~bt 41:ambrtbge lStblt for ~cboolu anb Gt.olltgeu.

THE BOOKS OF

NAHUM, HABAKKUK

AND

ZEPHANIAH.

iLonbon : C. J. CLAY AND SONS, CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS WARE HOUSE,

A VE MARIA LANE. l!lila~gow: 263, ARGYLE STREET.

11.ttll}ig: F. A. BROCKHAUS.

~tw l!!ork: THE MACMILLAN CO.

iSomba)!: GEORGE BELL AND SONS.

~bt <!rambrtllgt lStblt for i,cboolu anll <!rolltgt~.

GENERAL EDITOR FOR THE OLD TESTAMENT:­

A. F. KIRKPATRICK, D.D.

THE BOOKS OF

NAHUM, HABAKKUK AND

ZEPHANIAH, WITH INTRODUCTION AND NOTES

BY

THE REV. A. B. DAVIDSON, LL.D., D.D. PROFESSOR OF HEBREW, EDINBURGH.

EDITED FOR THE SYNDICS OF THE UNIVERSITY PRESS.

Qeambribgt : AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS.

1896

[All Rights reserved.]

0:amflr(b!Je; PRINTED BY J, & C. F. CLAY,

AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS.

PREFACE

BY THE

GENERAL EDITOR FOR THE OLD TESTAMENT.

THE present General Editor for the Old Testament in the Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges desires to say that, in accordance with the policy of his predecessor the Bishop of Worcester, he does not hold himself responsible for the particular interpreta­tions adopted or for the opinions expressed by the editors of the several Books, nor has he endeavoured to bring them into agreement with one another. It is inevitable that there should be differences of opinion in regard to many questions of criticism and interpretation, and it seems best that these differences should find free expression in different volumes. He

has endeavoured to secure, as far as possible, that · the general scope and character of the series should be observed, and that views which have a reasonable claim to consideration should not be ignored, but he has felt it best that the final responsibility should, in general, rest with the individual contributors.

CAMBRIDGE,

August, 1896.

A. F. KIRKPATRICK.

CONTENTS.

J. INTRODUCTION TO NAHUM.

§ r. Birthplace of the Prophet ....................... . § 2. Occasion of the Prophecy ....................... . § 3. Integrity of the Prophecy ...................... . § 4. Contents of the Prophecy ...................... .

II. TEXT AND NOTES

Ill. INTRODUCTION TO HABAKKUK.

§ r. The Prophet ...................... . § 2. The Prophecy . . . .. ............... . § 3. Integrity of the Prophecy ................. . § 4. Contents of the Book ............... .

IV. TEXT AND NOTES ................. .

V. liffRODUCTION TO ZEPHANIAH.

§ r. The Prophet.. ........................... . § 2. Date of the Prophecy .... .. § 3. Integrity of the Prophecy ............ . § 4. Contents of the Prophecy ..................... .

VI. TEXT AND NOTES

VII. APPENDIX.

NOTE I, The Fall of Nineveh ...................... ..

" On Zeph. ii. 4 ...

VIII. INDEX .....

PAGES

20, '21

45, 46 46-55 55-59 59-63

65-94

95, 96 96-99

99-104 104-107

109--136

1 37, 138 139

The Text adopted in this Edition is that of Dr Scrivener's Cambridge Paragraph Bible. A few variations from the ordi­nary Text, chiefly in the spelling of certain words, and in the use of italics, will be noticed. For the principles adopted by Dr Scrivener as regards the printing of the Text see his In­troduction to the Paragraph Bible, published by the Cambridge University Press.

INTRODUCTION.

~ I, BIRTHPLACE OF THE PROPHET.

THE name Nahum (in some MSS. Nahum) probably meant consoling or consoler, comforter ( cf. iii. 7 ). The name does not occur again in the Old Testament, though it is found in Luke iii. 2 5, and in the Mishna, as well as in Phenician inscriptions.

The term "the Elkoshite" implies that the prophet belonged to a place named Elkosh, just as the appellation "the Morashtite" describes Micah as a native of Moresheth-Gath (Mic. i. 1); cf. 1 Kings xi. 29, xvii. I; Jer. xxix. 24, 27. Elkosh has been identi­fied (1) with the modern Elkush, a town lying two days' journey north of Mosul (Nineveh); (2) with a village in Galilee, the ruins of which were seen by Jerome; and (3) with a place in the south-west of Judea, not far from Lachish. (1) In the first case Nahum would have been a descendant of some of the families of northern Israel carried captive by the Assyrians. In 2 Kings xvii. 6 (xviii. II) these captives are said to have been placed "in Halah, and on the Habor the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes." The Sept. reads "on Halah and Habor, rivers of Gozan, and in the mountains of the Medes." The Habor is the well-known river rising near Nisibis and falling into the Euphrates at Circesium (not Carchemish) ; while Gozan is the province around it, to which belonged such cities as Haran and Reseph 1• The situation of J:Ialal] is uncertain 2• Winckler

1 Delitzsch, Paradies, p. 183 seq. 2 Cf. Schrader, vol. i. pp. -267-8.

10 NAHUM.

has suggested that for 1:[alal:_i we should read Balil:_i, a river also in Mesopotamia, further north than the Habor 1• There is another Habor, which falls into the Tigris, considerably north of Elkush; this, however, is a small stream, and appears excluded by the designation "river of Gozan." It is of Jess consequence to ascertain accurately the settlements of the captive Israelites, as the chief point of interest is whether Nahum was familiar with Nineveh and possibly an eyewitness of the opera­tions against her, and this must be determined from his prophecy. The modem Elkush is a considerable town. The name looks Arabic, and if it were so would not be older than the severith century A.D. ; it might however be an Arabized ancient name. The place appears to be of considerable antiquity, though naturally all references to it are later than the Arabic era. The connexion of Nahum with it may very well be the result of a combination, due to the similarity of the name to the prophet's native place and to the fact that he prophesied against Nineveh. Such traditions are apt to arise in Christian and Mohammedan circles. Of a similar kind is the name N ebi Yunus (the prophet Jonas) borne by a part of the ruins of Nineveh, and the Monastery of Job in the Hauran. The tra­dition of the prophet's grave at Elkush is said by Assemani to go back to the 16th century. Layard describes the place as follows:

"Alkosh is a very considerable Christian village. The in­habitants, who were formerly pure Chaldaeans, have been con­verted to Roman Catholicism. It contains, according to a very general tradition, the tomb of Nahum, the prophet-the Alkoshite as he is called in the introduction to his prophecies. It is a place held in great reverence by Mohammedans and Christians, but especially by Jews, who keep the building in repair, and flock here in great numbers at certain seasons of the year. The tomb is a simple plaster box, covered with green cloth, and standing at the upper end of a large chamber. On the walls of the room are slips of paper, upon which are written, in distorted Hebrew characters, religious exhortations, and the dates and particulars

1 Alttest. Untersuch. pp. 108-uo.

INTRODUCTION. I I

of the visits of various Jewish families. The house containing the tomb is a modern building. There are no inscriptions nor fragments of any antiquity about the place1."

The prophet's descriptions of the siege and capture of Nineveh are very graphic, but being predictive they are to some extent imaginative. They might certainly have well been written by one familiar with the situation of the city, though it may be doubted if there is anything which is absolutely conclusive. The knowledge which the prophet exhibits of No Amon appears little less precise. Certain terms are used which, if well understood, might turn the scale in favour of local knowledge, but they are obscure. Examples are Huzzab (ii. 7), a word used of the queen; the military term sokek (ii. 5), and the title tiphsar (iii. 17), which however occurs again, Jer. Ii. 27. The phrase "river gates" (ii.6) is also of somewhat uncertain meaning, but in whatever sense it be taken a general knowledge of the situation of Nineveh would sufficiently explain its use. And the same is true of the refer­ences to the "brickmould" (iii. 14), to "the merchants" which flocked to the city (iii. 16), and to the masses of people drawn from every quarter that filled it (ii. 8). On the other hand, if the prophet drew his descent from the ten tribes it is strange that he should reveal so little interest in them. It is Judah that engrosses his attention. It is Sennacherib that "imagined evil against the Lord" (i. II), not Tiglath-pileser or Sargon. It is Judah that hears the good tidings of Nineveh's downfall, and through which "the wicked one" shall no more pass (i. I 5). There may be a reference to the northern kingdom in "Israel" (ii. 2), but even if so, Israel is subordinated to Judah, and Judean prophets, like Jeremiah, also predict the restoration of the exiles of the north (Jer. iii. 12). The right of eh. i. to be regarded as an integral part of the prophecy is denied by some authors; at any rate, all the references in it appear to be to Judah (i. I 1,

13, 15), and in the other chapters allusions, except that in ii. 2 (properly part of eh. i.), are to the nations in general (ii. 13, iii 4, 19) .

. 1 Nineveh and its Remains, i. p. ~33, 3rd ed. 1849.

12 NAHUM.

(2) The Galilean tradition appears more precise. Jerome in the preface to his commentary on Nahum says: "Helkesei is still at this day a hamlet in Galilee, small indeed, and scarcely shewing traces by ruins of ancient buildings, but for all that known to the Jews, and pointed out to me by a guide." The form Helkesei seems rather like a reproduction of the Heb. adjective, Elkoshite, than strictly the name of the place itself. But it would be unwarrantable for this reason to discredit the whole statement. Jerome, no doubt, saw the place which he describes ; whether its identification with the birthplace of the prophet was an inference of his own, or a suggestion of his guide, or a current tradition is not stated, though the last is the most natural meaning. It may be inferred perhaps from the name Capernaum (Kephar Nahum, village of Nahum) that a tradition did exist of the prophet's connexion with Galilee. Elcese has been supposed to be El Kauze, two and a half hours south-west of Tibnin, between Ramieh (Rama in Naphtali) and Bint J ebeil. Other references to the Galilean origin of the prophet appear to be based on J erome's statement, and can scarcely be adduced in corroboration of it. If a native of Galilee, Nahum would be a descendant of some of the families left in the land ; but if an Israelite of the North, his failure to shew any interest in his countrymen remains, as before, singular. Favoured however by the decline of the Assyrian power Josiah pushed his influence into the northern kingdom in the interests of Reform, and Nahum might have attached himself to Judah. The appearance of a prophet in northern Israel at this time has . little probability, and certainly the references in eh. i., if nothing else were known of Nahum, would suggest that he was himself a J udean. From John vii. 52 it may be inferred that the Galilean tradition was little known in the first century.

(3) There is a tradition to the effect that Nahum was a native of the south. This is found in the work On the Prophets, how they died and where they are bun·ed, usually ascribed, though perhaps wrongly, to Epiphanius, a native of the south of Judah, and subsequently (A.D. 367) bishop of Con­stantia (Salamis) in Cyprus. Epiphanius writes of Nahum:

INTRODUCTION. 13

" He came from Elkesei beyond Jordan toward Bega bar, of the tribe of Simeon." The tribe of Simeon was located in the south-west of Judah, and had no connexion with the region beyond Jordan. The text of the passage is evidently corrupt. In 1855 Tischendorf published two other recensions of the work of Epiphanius. In one of them the passage runs: "Nahum, son of Elkesaios, was of Jes be, of the tribe of Simeon" ; and in the other : " Nahum was of Elkesem beyond Betabarem, of the tribe of Simeon." In neither does the phrase "beyond Jordan" appear. Further welcome light was cast upon the passage by Prof. Nestle of Tiibingen from Syriac sources. In the transla­tion of the Old Testament into Syriac, made by Paul of Tella in 617, the notices of the prophets current in their collectiv€ form under the name of Epiphanius are appended by the translator to the several prophets to whom they respectively refer. In the notice of Nahum the Syriac reads: "Nahum was of Elkosh, beyond Bet Gabre, of the tribe of Simeon." This may be assumed to be the genuine reading. The Syriac Bet Gabre is Beit-Jibrin, the ancient Eleutheropolis, N.E. of Lachish. The phrase "beyond Beit-Jibrin" is to be explained by the position of the place in which the writer lived or which he reckoned from, though this is unknown 1.

These conflicting traditions leave the prophet's birthplace quite uncertain.

§ 2, OCCASION OF THE PROPHECY.

There are two fixed points between which the date of the pro­phecy must lie : the capture of No Amon or Thebes by the armies of Assurbanipal, cir. 664-2, and the destruction of Nineveh by the Medes, cir. 6o8-6. Some event or some combination of powers menacing to Nineveh, falling within these fifty or sixty years, must have given occasion to the oracle, for the catastrophe to No Amon referred to can hardly be any other than its capture

1 Zeitschr. des Deutsch. Pal. Vereins, i. rn seq., translated in Quarterly Statement of Pal. Exp. Fund, 1879, p. 136 seq. Cf. G. A, Smith,. Hist. Geography, p. 231, note r.

14 NAHUM.

by the Assyrians. In eh. iii. 8 the prophet asks Nineveh, Art thou better than No Amon, which also had the waters for a rampart? And it has been argued by Schrader1 and others that the fall of No Amon must have been recent and still fresh in men's memory. The argument is not conclusive. The prophet Zechariah (xiv. 5) refers to the earthquake under Uzziah, though he probably lived centuries later. The history of Egypt was always followed closely by Israel, and events of interest are alluded to very long after they took place, as for example the building of the city of Zoan (Numb. xiii. 22). On the other hand Wellhausen thinks that the question of the prophet would have something illogical in it, if reference were to the fall of No Amon before the Assyrians, for its fall might seem a proof of their might. Hebrew prophets reasoned differently : they considered less the immediate agents than the supreme agent, Jehovah. It was He that overthrew No Amon, as He would overthrow Nineveh. In answer however to Schrader it may be said that it would certainly be easier to overlook or forget the immediate agents, the Assyrians, if No Amon's fall were an event com­paratively distant.

Other scholars (W. R. Smith, 'Nahum,' Encyc. Bn't,) have expressed the opinion that no particular foe of Nineveh was in the eye of the prophet, whose oracle reposes entirely on general principles of the divine government of the world. This view appears based mainly on eh. i., and would reduce eh. ii., iii. to very artificial rhetoric. The impression conveyed by these chapters is that in the time of the prophet Nineveh was menaced by some actual foe ; and the general impression is confirmed by the particular words, 'The hammer is come up against thee' (ii. r). There are some prophecies which appear suggested just by the moral condition of the world : injustice and wrong doing were so rampant that the prophet could not repress a presenti­ment of imminent judgment (Is. ii., iii., vi.); but usually pro­phecies are suggested by some great movement among the nations, in which J ehovah's presence is already seen.

1 Vol. ii. r49 ff.

INTRODUCTION. 15

Events which might possibly have given occasion to the prophet's oracle are these : ( 1) the sanguinary struggle between Assurbanipal and his brother Shamas-sum-ukin, whom he had appointed viceroy of Babylon (cir. 652-48). (2) The inroad of the Scythians (cir. 628?). (3) The attack on Assyria by Phraortes (Fravartis) king of the Medes, who fell in the campaign (cir. 626). (4) The renewed war with Assyria and siege of Nineveh under Cyaxares (Uvakhshathra), the son and successor of Phraortes (cir. 624, Herod. i. 103). Cyaxares is said to have been forced to raise the siege owing to the invasion of his own country by the Scythians. There may be some con­fusion of dates, but Scythian influence on Media appears sub­stantiated by the fact, on which scholars seem agreed, that Astyages (Ishtuvegu), the next and last king of the Medes, was a Scythian. (5) The final siege of Nineveh by Cyaxares and the Medes, before which the city fell (608-6). It is a point not easy to decide whether the Chaldean N abopolassar, who had succeeded in seating himself upon the throne of Babylon since 625, lent active military support to the Medes in the siege, or merely looked benevolently on while Cyaxares pulled the chest­nuts out of the fire.

With the exception of(1) and (5) little is known of the events named beyond their mere occurrence. An actual or threatened attack of the Scythians on Assyria (2) is very much a hypothesis, not improbable but without historical support. If Nahum was a native of Assyria the advance of these hordes from the north might have given occasion to his prophecy ; if he belonged to Palestine he would in all probability, like Zephaniah and Jeremiah, have been more occupied with the destinies of his own country than with those of Nineveh.

With the death of Assurbanipal (cir. 626) the Assyrian empire began to break up. The Chaldeans of South Babylonia were able to seat their prince upon the throne of Babylon in 625. Possibly Assyria came to terms with the Chaldean usurper and acknowledged him as viceroy, and Nabopolassar might not trouble himself much about a name. About the same time the Median ~ingdom which had been gradually consolidating itself

r6 NAHUM.

felt strong enough to enter upon a struggle with Assyria. This movement was more vital as it was an attack upon Assyria proper. The old lion, though enfeebled, proved himself still dangerous ; Phraortes was defeated and fell in battle. As Cyaxares succeeded his father and continued the war with Assyria, in which. he had such success that he was able to lay siege to· the capital, only a short time can have intervened between the events marked (3) and (4). Either might have furnished occasion for the prophecy of Nahum, though the successful campaign of Cyaxares was more likely to inspire such hopes as the prophet expresses, and the fame of it would be more certain to penetrate to the west, supposing Nahum a prophet of Judah. Ewald pronounces in favour of the attempt of Phraortes, as it was the earliest attack upon Assyria (i. 12), while Kuenen and others think the siege of Cyaxares has in it more elements of probability. It is obvious that from our ignorance of the circumstances the most that can be said of either of these events or of any others is that they were of such a kind that they might have been the occasion of the prophet's oracle.

The fratricidal war between Assurbanipal and Shamas-sum­ukin, the Babylonian viceroy (652-48), has been thought by others the most probable occasion of the prophecy. There arose at this time a wide and powerful combination against the empire. The Chaldeans of south Babylon, Elam and other peoples allied themselves with Shamas-sum-ukin, and, though the western states for the most part remained quiet, Tyre and some Arabian tribes threw themselves into the struggle. The movement, however, was rather a rebellion and war of independence on the part of Babylon and the Chaldean states than an attack upon the Assyrian empire. Assyria proper was not seriously menaced. From the first the Assyrian king assumed the offensive and carried the war into the territory of his opponents, on whom he inflicted a series of crushing defeats. Babylon was invested and reduced to such straits that the populace maddened by famine seized Shamas-sum-ukin and burned him alive (Tiele, Bab.-Assyr. Gesch., p. 376 seq.). The incident is one of the most bloody in

INTRODUCTION. r7

the annals of Assyria, but the extraordinary promptitude, and it must be added ferocity, with which the revolt was stamped out shewed that the spirit and vigour of the empire was as yet little impaired. Such a prophecy as Nahum's could hardly have been uttered at any period of the struggle, except perhaps just at the moment when rumours of the coalition began to circulate, or, at the furthest, before the Assyrian armies took the field. The prophecy all through suggests some danger much more vital and pressing.

It is usually assumed (e.g. by Kuenen) that the siege of Nineveh by Cyaxares, which ended in its capture, is too late to have been the occasion of Nahum's oracle. The exact date of the fall of Nineveh is not ascertained; it must have been cir. 608-6. But in 6o8 the fatal field of Megiddo on which Josiah fell put Palestine into the hands of N echo. The prophecy could hardly be later than this date. It is not to be forgotten, how- -ever, that Nineveh sustained the siege of the Medes for two years, and no doubt the invaders, as the language of Nahum implies (iii. I 2, I 3), met with resistance more or less prolonged before they were able to penetrate to the capital and invest it. How long the war lasted is quite uncertain. In i. 13 reference is made to the "yoke" of Assyria, and this yoke it is thought could hardly have been felt to be galling in the years after 621, when Josiah was exercising a free hand even in northern Israel. The historical background of eh. i. is very indefinite. The only event of history referred to is the invasion of Sennacherib, who is "the wicked one," type or genius of the Assyrian monarchy. Apart from the other difficulties of i. 13 its language is very general; and, nominally at any rate, up to 6o8 Judah was still a vassal of Assyria. The historian of the Kings in narrating N echo's invasion of this date still says that "he went up against the king of Assyria" (2 Kings xxiii. 29). It would therefore be unwise to exclude the final siege of Nineveh from view. A date 610-8 for the prophecy, is well within the range of possibility. If the "distress" of Nineveh referred to were the final one (i. 9, 12) the descriptions of the prophecy would acquire a reality and natural­ness whi~h they otherwise want, and the general characteristics

~H.& 2

NAHUM.

of Hebrew prophecy would be more truly conserved. The language of Wellhausen is entirely justified when he says that "but for Herodotus it would never have come into anybody's head to doubt that the prophecy of Nahum and the downfall of Nineveh coincided with one another" (Skizzen, v. 156). He refers particularly to iii. 18, 19; and remarks that the last verse of the Book almost suggests that Nineveh had already fallen.

The closing years of the Assyrian empire are covered with obscurity. Two rulers followed Assurbanipal, though little is known of them beyond their names. The family of Sargon, the last Assyrian dynasty, is as follows :

B.C. 722 Sargon. 705 Sennacherib. 681 Esarhaddon. 668 Assurbanipal. 626 Two other rulers, Sinsharishkun (Sarakos)

and Assur-itil-ili-ukin 1•

608-6 Fall of Nineveh.

§ 3. INTEGRITY OF THE PROPHECY.

In recent times the question has been raised by some writers whether eh. i. be an integral part of the prophecy. A remark of G. Frohnmeyer cited by Delitzsch on Ps. ix. to the effect that there were traces of an alphabetical arrangement in Nah. i. 3-7, appears to have first drawn the attention of scholars to the subject. Bickell, who has devoted much pains to the elucidation of Hebrew metre, has given reconstructions of the chapter at various times from 1880 to 18941 founded on the idea that Nah. i. 2,-ii. 3 (A.V. ii. 2) is an alphabetical poem of 22 distichs, though so confused and mutilated in transcription that the alphabetical structure has almost disappeared. In his latest tract the author gives a full history of his previous efforts, which need not be

I Winckler, Altorient. Unters. p. 63. Others as Tiele, p. 4.13, read the names somewhat differently, Belzikirishkun and Asuretililani.

INTRODUCTION. 19

recounted here 1• Another reconstruction on the same lines has been offered _by H. Gunkel, though the readings suggested by him often differ widely from those of Bickell2.

On the one hand it must be acknowledged that the text of eh. i. appears to be in some disorder. In some places, e.g. vv. IO,

12, the language is unusual both in diction and syntax; while the repeated alternation of address to Nineveh and Judah, eh. i. 12-ii. 3, is far from natural, and ii. 2 can hardly be in its original place between vv. I and 3 (see notes). The historical background of the chapter seems rather indefinite, the only event alluded to being Sennacherib's invasion, and this is touched upon as if it were distant and the only incident in Assyrian history still borne in mind. The words "the wicked one shall no more pass through thee" (i. 15) need not refer to any recent aggression, cf. Joel iii. 17; Zech. ix. 8. Further, the reference to Nineveh, v. 8, "the place thereof" (cf. v. II) is introduced in a way altogether unprepared for. In manner, too, eh. i. differs much from the other chapters. Neither is the long theological intro­duction in the usual style of the prophets, though perhaps not much weight is due to this, as it is only in breadth that the passage differs from the briefer allusions to the Theophany in Am. i. 2 and Mic. i. 3, 4.

On the other hand, considering the violence necessary to force the passage into the strait jacket of an alphabetical form some may be inclined to ask whether the supposed traces of alphabetical arrangement in the beginning of the chapter be not accidental. An alphabetical arrangement can be imposed upon the passage without very extensive manipulation of the text down to v. 7 (the letter Teth), but further verses cannot be discovered without frequent transposition of words and clauses, nor even without considerable rewriting of the passage by substitution of one word for another, and the insertion of

1 Beitriige zur Semit. Metrik. Das Alphab. Lied in Nah. i. 2-ii. 3 (separate print from the Sitzungsberichte of the Im per. Acad. of Sciences of Vienna). Vienna, 1894.

9 Zeitschr. fur Alttest. Wissensch., 1893, p. ,n3. The author has returned to the subject in his recent work Schopfung und Chaos, p. roz ~eq. Gott. 1895.

2-2

20 NAHUM.

words to which there is nothing in the present text or the versions to correspond. The restorations, too, proposed by Bickell are often extraordinarily feeble and wanting in taste (e.g. vv. ro, 12).

The general effect of the restoration offered is to eliminate from the piece all reference to Nineveh, and leave it a general Eschatological poem, such as it is supposed very late writers delighted to construct. It would perhaps also follow that in the amalgamation of the passage with Nahum the real beginning of his prophecy in eh. ii. had been thrust out.

Even if it should be assumed that an alphabetical poem lurks under eh. i., the attempt to restore it, just as in Ps. x., can never be more than an academic exercise. Naturally, this is not the place to pursue the question further, though it could not be altogether passed over in sile_nce.

§ 4. CONTENTS OF THE PROPHECY.

Ch. i. (r) Manifestation of the Avenging God. His wrath is poured out like fire. Who shall stand before His indignation? (i. 2-6). (2) He will make an utter end of the enemies of His people (vv. 7-15).

Ch. ii. (1) Brilliant description of the besiegers, the siege and the defence (ii. r-5). (2) Defence is in vain: opening of the river gates ; capture of the queen and harem; flight of the populace and sack of the city, which is left a desolate ruin (vv. 6-w). (3) Exultation of the prophet over the destruction of the ancient den oflions (vv. 11-13).

Ch. iii. (1) New threat against the bloody city. The harlot who sold nations by her witchcrafts shall be exposed before the eyes of the nations. Who will be found to bemoan her? (iii. 1-7). (2) Shall she have a better fate than No Amon, which also had the waters for a rampart? (vv. 8-r1). (3) Her outer defences fall before the invader as ripe figs fall into the mouth when the tree is shaken. Let her make ready for the siege (vv. r2-15). (4) Her countless merchants shall be like the young locusts which cast their skin and fly away, and her offi­cers like the locusts which sit torpid on the hedges in the cold,

INTRODtJCTlON. 21

but when the sun rises they spread their wings and disappear. All that hear her fate shall clap their hands over her, for she has been the enemy of mankind (vv. 16-19).

The prophet's language is forcible and graphic, and his de­scriptions condensed and brilliant. He is animated by the intensest hatred of Assyria. In eh. i. there are elements of patriotism in this feeling; in eh. ii., iii., it is purer and simply human. The prophecy is the voice of the human mind express­ing its revolt against the spirit and deeds of the brutal foe of the human race, and might almost have come from the heart of any of the oppressed nationalities trodden under the foot of Assyria. It is the blood, the wiles and demonic witchcrafts (iii. 1-4), and the spirit of the wild beast (ii. 11-13) that in the name of man­kind the prophet appeals against ; and if he adds the traffic and riches and luxury of Nineveh, it is only to complete the picture of the immoral spirit of the people. This universal voice of humanity is no new thing in Hebrew prophecy ; it is heard in Am. i., ii.; even more distinctly in a contemporary of Nahum, Hab. i. 12-17, and all down history, as in Is. xiv. 5-8, xlvii. 7-15, and many psalms. And the prophet is assured that the voice of mankind is also the voice of God: "Behold, I am against thee, saith the Lord of Hosts, and I will cut off thy prey from the earth, and the voice of thine emissaries shall no more be heard" (ii. 13).

Nahum differs from previous prophets, and even from some prophets of his own age, such as Zephaniah and Jeremiah, in making no allusion to the sin of his own people. The same re­markable peculiarity characterizes in great measure the prophecy of Habakkuk, a prophet of the same period. See Habakkuk, Introduction, § z and§ 4.

Books referred to in the following notes are : Sayce, Assyria; its jJrinces,pn·ests and people (Tract Society). Schrader, Cuneiform InscrijJtlons, 2 vols. (English Trans-

lation). Tiele, Babylonisch-Assyrische Geschichte, 1886. Billerbeck-Jeremias, Der Untergang Nineveh's, 1895. (The

joint authors are Adolf Billerbeck and Alfred Jeremias.)

NA HUM.

THE burden of Nineveh. The book of the vision of 1 Nahum the Elkoshite.

God is jealous, and the LORD revengeth ; The LORD revengeth, and i's furious ; The LORD will take vengeance on his adversaries, And he reserveth wrath for his enemies.

CH, I. THE SUPERSCRIPTION,

1, burden of Ninroth] Rather; oracle of, or, against. This part of the heading is probably due to the editor of the book, as the phrase is common in introducing prophecies, e.g. Is. xiii. 1 and often. The other part of the heading may very well have come from the hand of the prophet himself. The term "oracle" is from the verb "to lift up" viz. the voice, or ''to take up" a parable or speech, Numb. xxiv. 3; Jer. vii. 16. On the name Nahum and the designation Elkoshite, see lntrod., § 1.

2-6. AN INTRODUCTION ON THE ATTRIBUTES OF JEHOVAH, GOD OF lSRARL,

The introduction, vv. z-6, leads up to J ehovah's interposition against Nineveh: (r) vv. z-3a His moral attributes; (z) 3b-6 the activity of these attributes when He reveals Himself in the Theophany of the tempest.

2. God is jealous] The original order of words being retained : A jealous God and vengeful is Jehovah, Jehovah is vengeful and wrathful; Jehovah is vengeful upon His adversaries, And retaineth wrath against His enemies.

"Jealousy" is the reaction of injured self-consciousness, it is God's re­sentful self-assertion when He Himself, or that which is His, as His people or land, is too nearly touched; Deut. iv. 1.3, 24; Josh. xxiv. 19; Ex. xx. 5, xxxiv. 14. Here His "jealousy" is awakened by the long-continued injuries inflicted on His people. The form of spelling the Heb. word "jealous" occurs again Josh. xxiv. 19; the more usual form, Ex. xx. 5, "Wrathful" is lit, the po;sessor, cherisher, of wrath; the phrase again,

"

24 NAHUM, I.

3 The LORD is slow to anger, and great in power, And will not at all acquit the wicked:

[vv. 3, 4.

The LORD hath his way in the whirlwind and in the storm, And the clouds are the dust of his feet ..

4 He rebuketh the sea, and maketh it dry,

Prov. xxix, 22, cf. Prov. xxii. 24. On the "vengeance" of God, comp. Is. lxiii. 4 "the day of vengeance is in my heart, and the year of my redeemed is come"; Is. xxxiv. 8, lxi. 2. After "retaineth" wrath is understood, Jer. iii. 5; Ps. ciii. 9.

3. Verse 3 continues the description of the relation of Jehovah to His enemies: He is longsuffering, delays chastisement long, but event­ually takes vengeance. The meaning of the phrase "great in power" is not clear. If employed in the usual objective sense as Job ix. 4, the verse would read, The Lord is slow to anger, but great in strength and will by no means leave unpunished (Rom. ix. 22). If "great in power" had a sense parallel to/ob xxxvi. 5, "Lo God is great and despises not, great in strength o heart" (mind), that is, if "strength" referred to attributes of the divine mind, magnanimity and longsuffering, the clause would be connected rather with the first, and the verse would read, "The Lord is slow to anger and great in strength, but he will &c."; see Numb. xiv. 17, 18, to which the verse has great resem­blance. The phrase "will not acquit," or leave unpunished, is used here absolutely, as Ex. xxxiv. 7, it being readily understood who it is that He will not let go unpunished; cf. Ex. xx. 7; Joel iii. '21; Jer. xxv. z9. For "great in power" some would read the usual "great in mercy."

With v. 3 b the prophet passes to the manifestation of these attributes of Jehovah or of Jehovah in these attributes in the tempest. The passage does not seem to possess unity as a description of a single Theophany, but rather accumulates features from various manifestations of the Lord, all illustrating His power and its terrible effects in nature and on men.

bath his way in the whirlwind] i.e. He moves and passes in the whirlwind, which is not the mere wind but also all its accompaniments of cloud and darkness. (The Heh. word for "Storm" is spelled excep­tionally here, as Job ix. 17.) The meaning is not so much that Jehovah uses the whirlwind and storm as the vehicles of His movement as that these commotions and terrors in nature are created by His presence, of which to men they are the tokens. The splendid words "the clouds are the dust of his feet," like the others " the earth is his footstool" need to be conceived, not explained.

4. He rebuketh the sea] with His voice of thunder; or perhaps the effect of the tempest on the sea in rolling it back and uncovering its bed may be taken as shewing His rebuke, Ps. civ. 7-9. It is possible that the historical instances of His dividing the Red Sea and the Jordan (Ps.cxiv. 3-5) may have led to His '' rebuking" the sea and rivers being regarded as a general attribute. Comp. Hab. iii. 8, •'Was the Lord displeased against the rivers ... or was thy wrath against the sea?"

v. 5.] NAHUM, I.

And drieth up all the rivers : Bashan languisheth, and Carmel, And the flower of Lebanon languisheth. The mountains quake at him, and the hills melt, And the earth is burnt at his presence,

and maketh it dry] Ps. xviii. 15, "Then the bed of the waters ap­peared, the foundations of the world were laid bare, at thy rebuke, O Lord, at the blast of the breath of thy nostrils." The spelling of Heb. word, "maketh it dry," has analogies, Lam. iii. 33, 53. Cf; Ps. cvi. 9; Is. 1. 2.

Bashan languisheth] Bashan, Lebanon and Carmel were the most splendidly wooded parts of Palestine and covered with the most luxuriant vegetation. Before the hot breath of J ehovah's anger they languish and wither. The description is scarcely on a line with the former "rebuketh the sea," though "drieth up the rivers" may form the transition. It was the furious tempest that rolled back the sea, it is the hot wind and drought of the desert under which Bashan languishes and withers up. Both are operations of Jehovah. Nature is alive but not with a life of her own, all her forces are but the personal energies of Jehovah. It is His rebuke, spoken though men may not hear it, before which the sea retreats and its bed is made bare; the hot wind which withers Carmel and Lebanon is His fiery breath. Is. xl. 7, 24; Am.i.z.

I!. Verse 5 returns to describe the Theophanyin the tempest, and its effects.

mountains quake at him] lit.,from Him, the effect comes from Him. It is not an earthquake that is described but the effect of the thunder and roar of the tempest. This shakes the mountains. It is not out of terror alone that the mountains tremble, it is the goings, the tread of the mighty God by which they are shaken, Mic. i. 3, 4. Hab. iii. 6, "He stood (stepped on earth} and the earth rocked"; Judg. v. 4.

the hil/J melt] What the physical phenomenon is which suggests this figure is not quite clear. Possibly Judg. v. 4, 5 explains the meaning: "When thou wentest forth from Seir the earth trembled, the heavens also dropped, the clouds dropped water, the mountains flowed down"­the streams rushing down the mountains on all sides seemed as if the mountains themselves had become fluid. The rendering "flowed down" Judg. v. 5, is the most natural, though others derive the form used from another root which might mean "to quake." In this case the melting of the mountains might refer to their motion, their undulating as if fluid. Mic. i. 3, 4, "Behold the Lord cometh forth out of his place, and will tread upon the heights of the earth (the storm cloud trailing over the mountains), and the mountains shall be molten under him, and the valleys shall be cleft, as wax before the fire, as waters that are poured down a steep place." The figure of melting wax hardly means that the mountains melt under the fiery feet of Jehovah.

the earth is burnt] Rather: riseth up, reference being to the rising and sinking motion of the earth-not its oscillation; cf. R.V. Am. ix. 5.

NAHUM, I.

Yea, the world, and all that dwell therein. 6 Who can stand before his indignation ?

And who can abide in the fierceness of his anger? His fury is poured out like fire, And the rocks are thrown down by him.

[vv. 6, 7.

7 The LORD is good, a strong hold in the day of trouble; And he knoweth them that trust in him.

R.V. is upheaved. Bickell from a different root, becomes waste. The last clause is a not unusual formula; Ps. xxiv. r.

6. Verse 6 draws the general conclusion from the preceding. The description, vv. 2-5, is one of the manifestation of the Lord on the more terrible side of His being. For though His revelation of Himself at the Exodus and later (Judg. v. 4, 5) had for its purpose the delivery of His people, this implied wrath and vengeance upon their enemies (Hab. iii: 12, 13). Hence the exclamation, Who can stand before his indignation! cf. Mai. iii. 2.

His fury is poured out] A common figure, particularly in Jer., e.g. vii. zo, xlii. r8, xliv. 6; cf. 2 Chron. xii. 7, xxxiv. 2r, z5; and Dan. ix. II, 27. The expression "poured out like" may mean, is poured out and acts like fire, or the idea may be that of a fiery stream; Is. xxx. 33, "the breath of the Lord, like a stream of brimstone, doth kindle it."

rocks are thrown down] or, rent in pieces. The word is used of throw­ing down an altar, Judg. vi. 30, beating down a tower, Judg. viii. r7, high places, city walls and cities themselves, 2 Kings xxiii. 8, xxv. 10; Jer. xxxix. 8, iv. 26. The rending of the rocks is not ascribed to the fire but to Jehovah Himself (by Him, lit.from Him, because of Him); but several writers have suggested by it. The second half of v. 6 con­tinues the idea of the first half, the impossibility of standing before His anger: it is a flood of fire.

7-11!. JEHOVAH WILL MAKE AN UTTER END OF THE ENEMIES OF HIS PEOPLE,

The preceding verses bave been general, speaking of the attributes of Jehovah and their manifestation, and conclude with the inference that none can stand before His wrath. Now the prophet approaches his more immediate theme, the pouring of Jehovah's anger on Nineveh. Verse 7 forms an antithesis to v. 8: Jehovah is the friend of His friends, v. 7, and the foe of His enemies, v. 8, of whom He will make an utter end.

7. is good, a strong hold] More naturally: ls good far (as) a strong­hold, construction as Gen. iii. 6. Sept. renders: is good to those who wait on him, which gives a better parallelism to the next clause. Cf. Ps. xxxvii. 39, "He is their strength in the time of trouble," virtually the same words as Heb. here.

knoweth them that trust] Ps. i. 6, " The Lord knoweth the way of the righteous." Gen. xviii. r9; Am. iii. 2.

vv. 8, 9.J NAHUM, I.

But with an overrunning flood he will make an utter end of s the place thereof,.

And darkness shall pursue his enemies. What do ye imagine against the LORD? 9 He will make an utter end : Affliction shall not rise up the second time.

8. an (fl)tf'YUnningjlood] Is. viii, 8, xxviii. 15. an utter end of the place thereof] lit. make her place (Nineveh's) an

utter end, i.e. completely destroy it. It must be confessed that the "her" referring to Nineveh is unprepared for by any previous mention of the city. Again Sept has read differently, giving for "her place" those that rise up against him, a reading which affords an exact parallel to "his enemies" in the next clause. Such a form as occurs Mic. ii. 8 would resemble "her place," or less closely such forms as appear Ps. xvii. 7, !ix. 1. There is no objection to the Heh. text on the score of construction : N eh. ix. 31 has two accus. for certain, and so apparently Jer. xxx. II; Ezek. xx. 17; compare a similar construction Is. v. 6, The remark of Buhl (Zeitschr.fiir Alttest. Wiss. 1885, p. 181, followed by Kautzsch) that a second acc. is not used after "make an end" is groundless,

darkness shall pursue] So ancient Versions as Sept., making "dark­ness" the subject. Less naturally R. V,: and shall pursue his enemies into darkness, Is. viii. 22 is too obscure to be cited as a parallel; and in Jer. xxiii. H, even if "darkness" be connected with the verb the sense is rather: in the darkness shall they be thrust down (or, thrust at, Ps. cxviii. 13, xxxvii. 5) and/all therein. Job xviii. 18 has the idea: "they thrust him out of !ight into darkness," where the construction, however, is easier.

9, What do ye imagine against the LORD] Compare v, II : "out of thee came forth one that imagined evil against the LORD," This sense, though the natural one, does not connect well with the next clause. Possibly the meaning is, What do ye imagine (think) of the Lord? in regard to Him and His operations. The next words then explain how He is to be thought of, and what His way of operation is: He will make an utter end.

Ajfiiction ... the second time] Or, trouble sha.l.l not rise twice. Is the statement a threat against J ehovah's enemies or particularly Nineveh? or is it a promise to Israel? Do the words mean that as the Lord shall make an utter end of Nineveh the trouble that now threatens her shall be once for all? or is the sense that Israel having suffered once from Assyria (Sennacherib) she shall not suffer twice? The use of the word "twice" as well as the connexion seems to favour the former sense, though perhaps the term "affliction" or trouble not unnaturally suggests the second. Comp. 1 Sam. xxvi. 8, "Let me pin him with the spear to t:!te earth at one stroke (one time) and I will not smite him the second lime (lit. I will not repeat to him)"; 2 Sam. xx. ro, The same ambiguity arises in v. 12,

NAHUM, I.

10 For while they be folden together as thorns, And while they be drunken as drunkard,, They shall be devoured as stubble fully dry.

(vv. ro-12.

u There is one come out of thee, that imagineth evil against the LORD,

A wicked counseller. •• Thus saith the LORD;

Though they be quiet, and likewise many, Yet thus shall they be cut down, when he shall pass through.

10. Verse 10 can hardly have been handed down in its original state. It may be rendered much as R. V.: for though (they be like) thorns tangled together and drenched as with their d,-ink, they shall be consumed as stubble folly dry. The Ninevites are compared to a tangled thorn hedge soaked with moisture and thus inaccessible to fire, yet the fire of Jehovah shall consume them as suddenly and completely as if they were the driest stubble. For the sense of though, roen to prep. 'ad cf. Numb. viii. 4; r Sam. ii. 5; Hagg. ii. r9; Job xxv. 5, and for the sense as with cf. Is. i. z5 &c. Of course the words might mean wet or wetted like their drink. It has been usually supposed that in the words "their drink" the prophet refers to the excess and debauchery of the Assyrian court. But a witticism of this sort is altogether im• probable. The text is no doubt corrupt. For "drenched as with their drink" Sept, gives "like tangled yew," or some such plant. The general sense of the text may be conjectured to have been, that though the Ninevites from their strong defences were as unassailable and able to inflict injury as a tangled thorn hedge, they would become the prey of the fire. See a similar. comparison to a thorn hedge, Mic. vii. 4 ; and on the comparison of enemies or the wicked to thorns, z Sam. xxiii. 6, 7; Ezek. ii. 6.

11. There is one come out] Rather: out of thee came he (or, one) forth who imagtned ... who counselled mischief. The reference is probably to Sennacherib. The words are addressed to Nineveh.

12. The verse is very obscure. Sept. partly read differently and partly divided the letters otherwise, and did not find the word likewise in their text, rendering, Thus saith the Lord who rnleth uver ,nany waters; and Syr., Thus saith the Lord concerning the heads (rulers?) ef many waters. The present text may be rendered with R.V., though they be in full strength and likewise many, even so shall they be cut down, and shall pass away. The word '' cut down" as pointed is used elsewhere only of shearing sheep or the hair of the head, and even if the figure were that of thorns as v. 10, seems inappropriate. If the figure were that of waters it would be still more unsuitable. The form might come however from the verb used in Ps. xc. 10 (R. V. for it t"s soon gone and we fly away), meaning "to hasten away."

when he shall pass through] better: and they shall pass away, plur. as Sept.

vv. 13-15.] NAHUM, I. 29

Though I have afflicted thee, I will afflict thee no more. For now will I break his yoke from off thee, 1 3

And will burst thy bonds in sunder. And the LORD bath given a commandment concerning z~

thee, That no more of thy name be sown : Out of the house of thy gods will I cut off the graven image

and the molten image : I will make thy grave; for thou art vile.

Behold upon the mountains the feet of him that bring- •s eth good tidings, that publisheth peace.

0 Judah, keep thy solemn feasts, perform thy vows:

Though I have nffeicted thee] The natural rendering would be: and i/ (or, when) I shall afflict thee, I will afflict thee no more. This rendering would make the reference be to Nineveh, and the meaning be that the affliction would be once for all and final. For construction cf. Ex. iv. 14; Numb. xxiii. zo. In A.V. reference is to Israel. See on v. 9. If the words referred to Nineveh or Asshur the pronouns might be read as masc., cf. vv. 13, 14.

13 seq. In v. 13 Judah is addressed; in v. q Asshur; again v. 15 {Heb. ii. 1) Judah, and ii. 1 (Heh. ii. 2) Asshur; and once more v. 2 Judah, and v. 3 seq. Asshur. Such frequent interchange of persons is most unnatural. Verse 13 might be an interpolation or marginal note due to the assumption that Judah is addressed in the words in the end of the preceding verse. Ch. ii. 2 could hardly stand where it is, though it might follow eh. i. 1 5.

his yoke] i.e. Asshur's. The form only here, cf. Jer. xxvii. 2, xxviii. 10, 12; Ezek. xxxiv. 27; Lev. xxvi. 13; Is. !viii. 6. With "burst thy bonds in sunder" cf. Ps, ii. 3, where the words are the same; also J er. XXX. 8.

14. Asshur is addressed. house of thy gods] Perhaps: thy god. I will make thy grave] This, according to a common nse of the pron.,

might mean: a grave for thee, consign thee to the grave. More naturally Syr., I will make it thy grave, i.e. probably, the house of thy god. Bickell, turning the phrase "for thou art vile" into a noun by some change of consonants, educes the sense: I will make thy graves to be dunghills. The word "dunghill" is Syr. and Targumic.

15 (Heb. ii. r). The ancient foe of Israel is no more, and those who announce his downfall hasten over the mountains proclaiming the good tidings. Judah is bidden hold her feasts, and fulfil her vows, made in the days of her adversity. The same words virtually occur in Is. Iii. 7. The phrase "perform (pay) vows" is common in the Psalms and later literature, but is found also in early prose, e.g. ,;i Sam. xv. 7, 8.

NAHUM, II.

For the wicked shall no more pass through thee; He is utterly cut off.

[vv. 1, 2.

2 He that dasheth in pieces is come up before thy face : Keep the munition, watch the way, make thy loins strong,

fortify thy power mightily. • For the LORD hath turned away the excellency of Jacob,

As the excellency of Israel : For the emptiers have emptied them out, And marred their vine branches.

tke wicked] Or, the wicked one, Heb. belial, the wrongdoer; whether Asshur personified or the king of Assyria.

pass tkr(!Ugk thee] Cf. Joel iii. 17; Zech. ix. 8.

CH. II.

1. Now begins the description of the attack upon Nineveh and its fall. Verse 2, however, returns to Israel and contains a reflection on the meaning of the downfall of Nineveh-its purpose is the restoration of Israel. The following v. 3 continues v. r, and the occurrence of v. 2 between them is very unnatural. Possibly v. 2 is the marginal reflection of a reader, which has fallen into the text, or it is to be placed before v. r.

He that liasheth in pieces] Probably the word should be pointed so as to mean a maul or hammer, as Jer. li. 20; cf. Prov. xxv. r8. The foe and destroyer of Nineveh is referred to.

before thy face] Or, against thy face. Probably "thy," which is fim. in Heb. text, should be read as masc. Asshur is addressed.

Keep the munition] i.e. the fortress or stronghold. Nineveh or Asshur is exhorted to be ready for the foe who has come up: the fort is to be kept, the way by which the enemy approaches watched and occupied, and resolute courage displayed. The phrase "fortify thy power," or, make strong thy might, is parallel to "make thy loins strong," referring to inward resolution and not to external things, such as fortifications or the army; Am. ii. r4.

2. hath turned away] Rather: restoreth the excellency, i.e. the former glory of the kingdom. This is Jehovah's purpose in the de­struction of Nineveh, the redemptive meaning of that event. The term "Jacob " must be used here of Judah, while " Israel" refers to the people of the North. Is. xlvi. 3; Obad. r8.

the emptiers] i.e. plunderers. The figure is the common one of the vine, cf. Jer. v. 10. Verse 2 can hardly have stood originally between v. 1 and v. 3.

S-10. ASSAULT AND SACK OF THE CITY.

The verses give a graphic, though of course ideal, pictnre of the attack on Nineveh and its capture. (r) Description of the hostile

v. 3.) NAHUM, II.

The shield of his mighty men is made red, The valiant men are in scarlet :

31

The chariots shall be with flaming torches in the day of his preparation,

warriors, who bear shields and are clad in purple ; and of the furious charging of the chariots (VV, 3, 4). (2) The attack on the city walls; capture of the queen and harem, and sack of the town (vv. 5-10). More particularly, v. 3 describes the hostile army as prepared for the conflict; v. 4 conflict outside the walls; v. S approach to the walls and assault upon them; v. 6 opening of the river-gates, and despair of the palace; v. 7 capture of the palace and its inmates; vv. 8-10 sack of the city.

3. Description of the hostile army "in the day of its preparation," i.e. before engaging the Ninevites. The pronoun, "his" mighty men, refers to the destroyer of Nineveh mentioned in v. r. From v. 3 to v. 7 all the tenses should be in the present, as R. V.

The skield ... is made red] The meaning is uncertain. It is su11posed that reference is made to shields covered with copper, which flashed red in the sun (I Mace. vi. 39). The word would more naturally suggest some practice of dyeing or anointing (Is. xxi. 5) the shields red. In Assyrian warfare the men fought in groups of two or three, one carrying the shield and the others shooting arrows or using other weapons of offence. Shields were of various kinds, sometimes of wicker work on a metal frame and covered with leather or metal plates; sometimes of more solid materials mounted with round or pointed bosses. Large · standing shields set upon the ground were also in use, behind which the archers stood. Examples are given in Layard, Nineveh, II. pp. 344-348, and in Billerb.-Jerem., pp. 169, 174 seq.

valiant men are in scarlet] The reference is probably to the colour of the uniforms, which in ancient times was often red. As to the Baby­lonians, cf. Ezek. xxiii. r4, and theAssyrians, xxiii. 6.

shall be with flaming torckes] lit., with (or, in).fire of torckes are the ckariots. The word rendered torches (pldi) is of uncertain meaning and was translated torches by A.V. under the assumption that it was a form of the usual word (lpdt). Ges. conjectured "steel" after Arabic, and so R.V. The Arab. word for steel; however, is borrowed from the Persian, and too late to be found here. Others think of an Arab. verb "to cut off," &c., and render "fire which divides itself," coruscating or flashing fire. The Ar. word means to cut qff a piece of property in order to bestow it upon another; or, to cut flesh meat or liver in pieces, but has not the general sense of cut or divide, and could not express the idea of flashes or flames of fire. Altogether to be rejected is the idea founded on the word •' to cut," that chariots armed with scythes are meant. In Biblical literature such chariots are first mentioned, 2 Mace. xiii. '2, They were not known in early antiquity, being referred to for the first time in connexion with the battle of Cunaxa (Anab. i. 7, ro, ~- 8, ro). In the Cyropaedia (vi. 1, 30) Cyrus is said to have been the inventor of scythed chariots. The Assyrians did not employ them, nor,

32 NAHUM, II. [v. 4.

And the fir trees shall be terribly shaken. 4 The chariots shall rage in the streets,

They shall justle one against another in the broad ways: They shall seem like torches, They shall run like the lightnings.

it may be assumed, the Medes. The unknown word here is probably a technical term, and the reference may be to the burnished plates of metal with which the chariots were mounted or mailed, and the glittering weapons hung on them. A figure of such an armed chariot in Billerb.­J erem., p. x67.

the jir trees shall be terribly shaken] If "firtrees" be the true reading, Jong lances or spears may be intended. Sept. read horsemen, a somewhat similar word. The verb rendered "terribly shaken" (R.V. shaken terribly; perhaps bristle, horrent) does not occur again, though the word "reeling," Zech. xii. 2, and the more usual form, Ps. lx. 3; Is. Ii. 17, 22, may be derived from it; also Is. iii. x9 gauze veils? possibly from the quivering of the fine stuff? The reference would be to the shaking or vibrating of the long lances in the hands of those who brandished them. Or, reference might be to the battering rams swung against the walls. If "horsemen" be read with Sept., Syr. the wild careering of the cavalry would be referred to.

4. Verse 3 referred to the aspect of the assailing army in the day of preparation ; v. 4 appears to describe an actual conflict before the city.

shall rage in the struts] rage in the outplaceB. The reference is certainly to what is taking place outside the walls, not within the town. The term" streets" often means fields (Job v. ro), or what lies outside or abroad; it is parallel to "broad places " next clause, i.e. open ground in front of the walled city.

A suburb or outskirt of Nineveh called ribit Nina (broad place of Nineveh) lay probably on the N.E. of the city, or on the east, the side on which the great road to Arbela left the city. In such places there would no doubt be forts here and there and around these the battle would rage, for the defenders would not retreat within the walls without a conflict. J er. xlvi. 9 !!,lso uses the word " rage " of the racing of chariots. Chariots were employed in sieges. Lay., Ninroeh, n. 349.

They shall seem like torches] the appearance of them 1s like torcheB. The glitter of the mailed chariots and their furious racing is compared to torches and lightnings.

5. It is not easy to say whether this verse refers to the besiegers or the besieged. As v. 3 referred to the preparation, and v. 4 to conflicts before the walls, v. 5 might naturally as the next step describe the assault on the wall by the besiegers. The siege actually lasted two years, but the prophet condenses the whole into a few brilliant suc­cessive scenes. The term rendered" worthies" is translated "nobles," Ch. iii. r8, marg. valiant men, viz. those of the king of Assyria. If the meaning were the same here reference would be to the measures of defence taken by the Assyrian king. The expression " they hasten to

VY. 5, 6.) NAHUM, II.

He shall recount his worthies : They shall stumble in their walk; They shall make haste to the wall thereof, And the defence shall be prepared. The gates of the rivers shall be opened,

33

the wall " might also seem more natural if the defenders were referred to ; and the other expression "they stumble in their walk " ( or march) is more likely to be said of worn-out defenders than of an eager enemy in the act of delivering an assault. The phrase could hardly describe the pellmell rush of a storrning party towards the wall.

recount his worthies] Be l>ethinketh h1maelf of his worthies, or valiant men.

skall stumble in tkeir walk] they stuml>le in their steps. Their stumbling might be due to the suddenness of their call and weariness from the harassing fatigues of the defence. There is no necessity for supposing that the defenders were sunk in sloth and effeminate from debauchery.

tke defence ska!! be preparea] 1s prepared. The term "defence " (sokek), lit. coverer, is obscure in two ways: (1) it is uncertain whether it be a thing or a body of men, an engine or a party of troops, called the coverer, as another similar word is the ambusk, i.e. the party forming an ambuscade: and ('2) it is uncertain whether it belongs to the besiegers or the besieged. If the rest of the verse described the defenders this clause would also most naturally be said of them. In this case it would be either some apparatus of defence against the assault of the enemy or a body of men placed in some position to beat back the storming party. City walls were usually provided with turrets or battlements projecting forward over the walls, from which the besieged could observe the movements of the enemy at the foot, and hurl destructive missiles upon them. A party placed in such a position might be intended. (Figures, Billerb.-Jerem., p. 16o.) On the other hand, if the sokek belonged to the besiegers it would probably be some engine for battering the walls, The construction is less natural : they hasten to the wall, but tke sokek kas been prepared-they find the engines in position and at work. There was great variety of battering machines. Besides the usual ram, a beam with an' iron head, suspended by chains and swung against the wall, there were engines run on wheels and generally provided with two wall-breachers armed with lance-shaped heads. These rams were not generally swung horizontally but sloping upwards so as to operate on the foundations of the projecting towers, ant! bring them down. (Figures in Billerb.-Jerem., p. 180 seq.; Layard, II. 367 seq.) These wheeled breaching engines were of course roofed to protect those who worked the rams. Such an engine has some resemblance to the vinea or mantle! (so R.V. here); the testudo or roof of shields does not seem to have been used in eastern warfare. Moveable towers which put the assailants on a level with the defenders on the wall were also employed, Layard, n. 368 sq.

6. The gates ... skal/ be opened] are opened. The city of Nineveh lay N.~L 3

6

34 NAHUM, II. (v. 7.

And the palace shall be dissolved. 7 And Huzzab shall be led away captive, she shall be brought

up,

on the left or E. side of the Tigris. The city proper was of the form of an irregular parallelogram, stretching from N. W. to S.E., the broader end being on the N. This city proper was enclosed by walls protected by moats. It was only at the N.W. point that the city touched the Tigris, from which it gradually retreated to the S.E., leaving between it and the river a considerable space of territory, though an arm of the river again approached the city at the S.W. corner of the parallelogram. Billerbeck computes the length of the north wall at 2000 metres (6561 feet), that of the south wall at Soo m., and the length of the east wall N. to S. at 5000 m., and conjectures that there was room in the city for 300,000 inhabitants. Through the city ran a mountain stream, the Chaser, cutting the city into two parts and falling into the Tigris, and from this stream and other streams and canals from the hills on the N.E. was drawn the water that filled the moats as well as the water supply of the city, the Tigris being unsuited for drinking. Besides the walls of the city proper with their moats there were extensive outer defences. A wall ran along the east bank of the Tigris, and an immense rampart protected the city on the east side, between which and the city walls rose various kinds of fortifications. These outer walls were also protected by moats. The moats did not wash the walls, but were trenches at some distance from them, and the walls could only be approached by drying the moats or throwing dams across them. The "gates of the rivers " are not city gates situated on the rivers, but rather the points in the wall where the rivers or canals enter the city, Reference to a bab nari (river gate) occurs in an inscription of Sen­nacherib (Billerb. p. r26, note), which it is conjectured might be the point where a canal entered the city on the north-east, the course of which is now the road to Khorsabad. Such "gates" wonld be structures provided with sluices regulating the supply of water, and if these were opened the walls would be undermined or the city inundated. Others suggest that the "river-gates" may be the sluices of the moats. If these were opened, however, for the purpose of running the moats dry, this step should have come earlier in the prophet's description. What­ever the opening of the river-gates means, it threw the palace into a panic and shewed that all was over. The precise conception of the prophet must remain somewhat uncertain. The attack on the city would not be made from the west nor from the Tigris, but from the north or north-east, the side of the hills.

palace shall be dissolved] is dissolved, i.e. the inmates are overwhelmed with terror and despair. Possibly the word '' dissolved," though not used literally was suggested by the previous words, " the river gates are opened."

7. And Huzzab] The word is altogether obscure, and Assyriology has not been able to throw any light upon it. Reference must be to the queen, but whether she be called by her name, or whether some

vv. 8, 9.] NAHUM, II.

And her maids shall lead her as with the voice of doves, Tabring upon their breasts.

35

But Nineveh £s of old like a pool of water : s Yet they shall flee away. Stand, stand, shall they cry; but none shall look back. Take ye the spoil of silver, take the spoil of gold: 9

For there is none end of the store and glory out of all the pleasant furniture.

epithet be applied to her is uncertain. The text even may be faulty. Some would read hazzab, "the lizard," a creature which takes refuge in holes, fancying that the queen was so called because she was detected and dragged from her hiding-place. This poor witticism need not be attributed to the prophet. There is another word hazzab signifying " the litter" or palanquin (Is. !xvi. 20), and in lien of anything better one might be tempted to think that the litter might mean the woman or lady, just as in Arab. (jiJa'inah means a woman's litter and then a woman.

shall be led away captive] ls detected, or uncovered. shall be brought up] she is brought up (or, out), her maids moaning

as with the voice of doves, tabering upon their breasts (Judith viii. 5). The phrase "brought up" following " detected " probably means dragged out; R.V. carried away. To "taber" is to drum or beat. Beating the breast was a gesture of grief or despair, Luke xviii. 13, xxiii. 27; people also smote upon the thigh, Jer. xxxi. 19; Ezek. xxi. 12 (Heb. xxi. 17). The moaning of mourners is often compared to the complaint of the dove, see Ezek. Cambridge Bible, p. 49. In Assyrian the dove is called summatu, the mourner or complainer.

8. But Nineveh ... a pool of water] And Nineveh was like a pool of water from her beginning, lit. from the days she was, during all her history.

shall flee away] but they :ll.ee away. The vast population of Nineveh, drawn from all quarters, is compared to a mass of waters; these break asunder and flee away. The figure of waters" fleeing," Ps. civ. 7. The text is not beyond suspicion in the first clause of the verse. The prophet vividly realises the scene. Nothing will arrest the precipitate flight. The cry, Stand! is unheard, none looks back. Cf. Jer. xlvi. u.

9. All the wealth of the city is abandoned by the inhabitants, fleeing for their life, and the scene of plunder is pictured in the exclamations of the prophet, Spoil the silver! , ,

and glory .. furniture] and wealth of all precious vessels, but the term vessels means virtually "articles." Jewels, rich apparel, costly vessels and whatever men think precious would be found in the rich capital in abundance (Zech. xiv. 14). The enormous riches of Nineveh are frequently alluded to in the inscriptions; the treasures brought home by Assurbanipal's army after the capture of Thebes or No (eh. iii. 8) were fabulous.

3-2

NAHUM, II. [vv. 10-13.

10 She is empty, and void, and waste: And the heart melteth, and the knees smite together, And much pain is in all loins, And the faces of them all gather blackness.

u Where is the dwelling of the lions, And the feeding place of the young lions, Where the lion, even the old lion, walked, And the lion's whelp, and none made them afraid?

,2 The lion did tear in pieces enough for his whelps, And strangled for his lionesses, And filled his holes with prey, And his dens with ravin.

13 Behold, I am against thee, saith the LORD of hosts, And I will bum her chariots in the smoke, And the sword shall devour thy young lions : And I will cut off thy prey from the earth, And the voice of thy messengers shall no more be heard.

10. In a series of exclamations the prophet depicts the desolation of the city and the paralysis and helplessness of those remaining in it; Is. xiii. 7, xxi. 3; Josh. vii. 5. The paronomasia in the first words, emptiness and voidness and waste! cannot be reproduced. Is. xxiv. 1; xxix. 2 ; Ezek. xxxiii. 29 ; Zeph. i. r 5.

faces ... gather blackness] are waxed pale, lit. have withdrawn their colour; Joel ii. 6. Comp. the phrase of Jer. xxx. 6, are turned to greenness (blanched}.

11-13. THE PROPHET'S EXULTATION OVER THE DOWNFALL OF NINEVEH.

11. Where is the dwelling] the den. the old lion] Perhaps, the lioness. 12. The lion did tear] Perhaps, the lion, Which did tear, carrying on

previous verse. with ravin] i.e. torn carcases. 13. her chariots in the smoke] in smoke, i.e. so that they go up

in smoke. For "her c{lariots " Sept., Syr. read thy multitude or abundance (rubka for rikba). One might even suggest "thy lair" (ribrka). The pronoun "thy" is more natural than "her," though changes in person are very common.

voice of thy messengers] i.e. emissaries, exacting tribute or compelling submission, z Kings xviii. r7, r9, xix. 9, 23. The form of the word is anomalous ; the anomaly would disappear if the pronouns were read in the masc.

vv. 1, 2.) NAHUM, III. 37

Woe to the bloody city! 3 It is all full ef lies and robbery; The prey departeth not ; The noise of a whip, and the noise of the rattling of the •

wheels,

CH. III. RENEWED THREAT AGAINST NINEVEH,

(r) The bloody city, full of ravin and prey, shall be stormed and sacked. Brilliant picture of the assailing cavalry and chariots (vv. r-3). (2) This retribution shall fall on her because of her fornications and sorceries with which she drugged the nations. She shall be exposed like a harlot before the eyes of the peoples (vv. 4-7). (3) Can she look for a better fate than that of No Amon, which also had the waters for a rampart? (vv. 8-u). (4) Her defences are broken through, her out­works have fallen, let her prepare for the siege (vv. 1z-14). (5) She is fallen; the merchants that crowded her marts and her people have flown away like a swarm of locusts when the sun is hot. In hatred and disdain men clap their hands over her ruin, for her evil has gone out unto all the world (vv. 15-19).

1. bloody city 1 Ezek. xxiv. 9. In ancient states the capital was virtually the kingdom, and to Nineveh are here ascribed all the characteristics of the Assyrian monarchy. The cruelties perpetrated by the Assyrians were shocking. Captive princes who had offered resist­ance in defence of their country were shut up in cages and exposed to the gaze of the populace; the heads of those already executed were hung round the necks of those still living; and others were flayed alive. The Assyrians appear to have been the most ruthless people of antiquity. See cut representing impaled captives, Layard, Nineveh, u. 369, and Tiele's chap. on the revolt of Shamas-sum-ukin; comp. also Sayce, Assyria; tts princes &c. p. 127 ff. On the other hand they were not incapable of acts of magnanimity, an example of which was Assur­banipal's pardon of the rebellious Egyptian princes whom his father Esarhaddon had raised to the throne. See his own words, Winckler, Altorient. Untersuch., r. pp. 104, 105.

full of lies and robbery] Robbery means "rending" or tearing in pieces (Ps. vii. z), the figure of the lion {eh. ii. II) being perhaps still retained, while "lies" rather deserts the figure, and refers to the false and overreaching state-craft of Nineveh ( eh. iii. 4), though possibly the subtlety of the wild beast might be alluded to.

The prey departeth not] "Prey" may be less the thing caught than the act or habit of catching-this prey taking is unceasing; cf. Jer. xvii. 8 last clause.

a, s. Graphic description of the attack on Nineveh. Verse 2 describes rather what is heard when the onset commences: cracking whips and prancing horsemen and rattling wheels; and v. 3 what is seen: charging horsemen, and flashing swords and glittering spears. On the whip, Layard, II, 356.

NAHUM, III. [vv. 3, 4·

And of the pransing horses, and of the jumping chariots. J The horseman lifteth up both the bright sword and the

glittering r;pear : And there is a multitude of slain, and a great number of

carcases; And there is none end of their corpses; they stumble upon

their corpses : 4 Because of the multitude of the whoredoms of the well­

favoured harlot,

jumping chariots] i.e. bounding either from their excessive speed, or from the obstacles which they meet in the uneven ground before the city.

3. The horseman lifteth up] Rather, in a series of exclamations: charging horsemen, a.nd :fla.shl.ng swords, and glittering spears ! and a multitude of slain! In Jer. xlvi. 9 the simple verb is used of the horse (come up); and the causative is here used of the horseman, as in Jer. Ii. 27.

stumble upon their co,tses] The multitude of slain and the endless corpses are those of the Ninevites, over which the victorious assailants stumble. The first half of the verse describes the charge, the second half the field when the melee is over. Jer. xlvi. 12.

4--7. MORAL REASON OF NINEVEH'S DOWNFALL.

Verses 4-7 give the expla.nation of this overwhelming disaster. There is a pause, however, between vv. 3 and 4; the close connexion of R. V. is rather unnatural. Verse 4 seq. proceeds with more calmness.

4. multitude of the whoredoms] The phrase "whoredom" when used of Israel meant, first, infidelity to Jehovah, God of Israel, by serving other gods ; then it was applied to alliances and political intercourse with other nations, partly because such trust in other nations betrayed distrust of Jehovah and falsehood to Him, and partly because the political influence of powerful states like Assyria and Babylon was naturally followed by an invasion of their c,1stoms and religious ideas, as was seen in the decline of the kingdom of Judah; and finally, mere political or commercial intercourse of one nation with another was called "whoredom," even when the religious idea was not involved. In this weaker sense the term seems employed here, viz. of political intercourse; in Is. xxiii. 17 it is used of commercial intercourse. Comp. Ezek. xvi. 26-29, xxiii. 40 seq.

the wellfavoured harlot] "Wellfavoured" means beautiful, though the phrase has perhaps ceased to be usual in common language ; in the northern dialect "wee! fa'art" is still common for good-looking. Beauty or charm is a point in the harlot; the reference perhaps is less to the splendo~r and ?ches o~ the imperial city than to the dazzling prestige of the empire, which fascmated weaker states and rulers, as for example in the case of Ahaz.

vv. 5-8.] NAHUM, III.

The mistress of witchcrafts, That selleth nations through her whorerloms, And families through her witchcrafts.

39

Behold, I am against thee, saith the LORD of hosts j 5 A.nd I will discover thy skirts upon thy face, And I will shew the nations thy nakedness, And the kingdoms thy shame. And I will cast abominable filth upon thee, and make thee 6

vile, And will set thee as a gazing-stock. And it shall come to pass, that all they that look upon thee 7

shall flee from thee, and say, Nineveh is laid waste : who will bemoan her? Whence shall I seek comforters for thee ? Art thou better than populous No, s

mi.stress of witchcrafts] i.e. that practiseth sorceries. Reference is to the arts of statecraft, the influences used upon the nations, which act on them like the charms and incantations and drugs of the sorceress.

That selleth nations] The expression to sell, viz. into bondage, appears used in a general sense, to deliver over, i. e. to destruction, as Esth. vii. 4; cf. Is. 1. r, Iii. 3. The common Arab. verb to which Hitzig appeals, to use guile, craft, to beguile, is not a trans. verb but requires a prep. after it, and in any case its use is improbable.

And families] i.e.peoples, as Am. iii, r, z, "the whole family which I brought up from the land of Egypt." Cf. Jer. i. 15.

IS. discover thy skirts] or, uncover. The term means here to remove that which forms a covering, viz. the skirts; the effect is stated in the next clause. J er. xiii. n, z6; Ezek. xvi. 37, 39; Mic. i. II; Hab. ii. r 5. Reference is probably to the practice of exposing the harlot or adulteress. Ezek. xvi. 37-41 (cf. Cambridge Bible).

6. make thee vile] Jer. xiv. 21 disgrace not the throne of thy glory! Deut. xxxii. 1 5 ; Mic. vii. 6. The idea that the word originally meant to cast corpses upon, seems baseless.

a gazing-stock] Ezek. xxviii. 17, 18; Matt. i. 19; 1 Cor. iv. 9. '7, flee from thee] In terror at her judgment. Whence shall I seek comforten] The words imply that none will be

found to pity her, as Jer. xv. 5; Is. Ii. 19.

8-11, SHOULD NINEVEH EXPECT A HAPPIER FATE THAN No AMON?

8. Art thou better] Most naturally: sha.ll lt be (go) bett.er with thee? shalt thou have a better fate? The sense proposed by others, art thou better placed? is also suitable to the connexion, but the form of the verb is against it.

NAHUM, III. [vv. 9, 10.

That was situate among the rivers, that had the waters round about it,

Whose rampart was the sea, and her wall was from the sea ? 9 Ethiopia and Egypt were her strength, and it was infinite;

Put and Lubim were thy helpers. 10 Yet was she carried away, she went into captivity:

Her young children also were dashed in pieces at the top of all the streets :

And they cast lots for her honourable men, And all her great men were bound in chains.

populous No] No Amon, i.e. No of Amon (the god); in EgyPlian Nu Amen. No is Thebes the capital of Upper Egypt, sacred lo the god Amun. Jer, x)vi. '25 threatens No of Amon and her gods. Cf. Ezek. xxx, 14 seq.

among the n'vers] on the Nile streams. The city lay on both sides of the Nile, but was girt about with arms or canals of the river.

rampart was the sea] i.e. the Nile. A large river or any mass of water is called "sea"; Is. xix. 5; Job xiv. II, So ba5rin Arab.

her wall was fr1Jm the sea] A slight change in pointing gives, and waters were her wall (Sept.).

9. Ethiopia and Egypt] Heh. Cush and Egypt. At this time Egypt and Cush, the country south of Upper Egypt, were virtually one, as the '25th or Ethiopian dynasty were on the throne (from 728-66'2), with No or Thebes as their capital. Jer. xlvi. 9.

and it was infinite] A favourite phrase of the prophet, ii. 9, iii. 3, 9; cf. Is. ii. 7.

Put and Lubim] Gen. x. 6 Phut is one of the four sons of Ham. Ezek. xxx. 5, Phut appears in the armies of Egypt (Jer. xlvi. 9), xxxviii. 5 among the followers of Gog, and xxvii. 10 among the merce­naries of Tyre. Sept. sometimes renders Lybians, here Phut and Lybians seem distinguished. The place of Phut is usually sought on the · N. coast of Africa, west of Egypt, though the views of scholars are divergent. In Is. !xvi. 19 Phut is perhaps lo be read for Phu).

tky he~ers] The versions render her helpers. 10. chi1dren were dashed in pieces] A barbarous practice in ancient

warfare; the children were taken hold of and their heads dashed against the wall or stones. The term used appears technical, 2 Kings viii. 12; Is. xiii. 16; Hos, xiii. 16 (xiv. I Heb.); cf. however the two passages, Is. xiii. 18; Hos, x. r4. The object of this savage act was to extermi­nate the whole population with which war was waged; a similar practice was to rip up the women with child, Am. i. 13; Hos. xiii, 16.

cast !1Jts for her h/Jn1Jurable men] Lots were cast for the nobles who were taken as captives. Joel iii. 3, Obad. II,

No Amon was celebrated in antiquity as Thebes of the hundred gates (II. ix. 381). It possessed a famous library, and was filled with temples and other buildings of extraordinary magnificence. Its riches

NAHUM, III.

Thou also shalt be drunken : thou shalt be hid, n Thou also shalt seek strength because of the enemy. All thy strong holds shall be like fig trees with the firstripe 12

figs: If they be shaken, they shall even fall into the mouth of the

eater. Behold, thy people in the midst of thee are women : 13

The gates of thy land shall be set wide open unto thine enemies:

were fabulous; compare the statements of Assurbanipal regarding the wealth his armies carried away when they captured it (Schrader, ii. 149 ff.}. The splendid ruins of Kamac and Luxor attest the former magnificence of the city.

11. shalt be drunken] Drunkenness is a figure for the stupefaction caused by calamity. Is. Ii. 17-23, "Awake Jerusalem, which hast drunk at the hand of the Lord the cup of his fury, thou hast drunken of the bowl of the cup of staggering ... Hear now this, thou afflicted, and drunken, but not with wine." Similarly Hab. ii. 15, 16; Jer. xxv. 15 seq. Comp. Jer. xxv. 17, 18, z7; Ezek. xxiii. 33; Obad. 16.

thou shall be hid] thou shalt faint, or, swoon, lit. be shrouded (in darkness), a usual oriental figure-"a covering came over him,'' i.e. he swooned. Comp. the more usual word, Is. li. -zo; Am. viii. 13; Lam. ii. 19.

shall seek stnngth] seek a place of refuge because of, or, from the enemy.

The destruction of Thebes here alluded to was effected by Assurbani­pal about 664-662. The Egyptian king of the day was Urdamani, who had succeeded Tirhaka. Details are given in the Inscriptions; see Schrader, ii. pp. 149-152; Winckler, Altorient. Unte)·such. I. p. 105 (Essay on" The Sargonides and Egypt"). For the bearing of the refer­ence on date of the prophecy, see Introd.

19-16. HER OUTER DEFENCES FALLEN, NINEVEH MUST PREPARE FOR THE SIEGE.

H. thy strong holds shall beJ a.re. The strongholds here are the fortresses in the country, meant to guard the frontier or block the enemy's progress towards the capital. They are like ripe figs, if the tree be shaken they fall into the mouth. Hab. i. 10; 2 Kings iii. 25; Mic. v. 5. On Nineveh's preliminary defences, cf. Billerb.-J er., PP· 127 seq.

13. Dismay and paralysis seize the Assyrians before the enemy. The comparison to "women" is common, Is, xix. 16; Jer. xlix. 22, 1. 37, Ii. 30; also in the Assyr. inscriptions. _

in the midst of thee] i.e. throughout the land, not merely in the city of Nineveh.

gates of thy land shall be set open] are set open. The gates of the

42 NAHUM, III. [vv. 14-16.

The fire shall devour thy bars. 14 Draw thee waters for the siege, fortify thy strong holds:

Go into clay, and tread the morter, make strong the brick­kiln.

,s There shall the fire devour thee; The sword shall cut thee off, It shall eat thee up like the cankerworm : Make thyself many as the cankerworm, Make thyself many as the locusts.

16 Thou hast multiplied thy merchants above the stars of heaven:

land are the passes or defiles or the ways guarded by defences through which entrance is obtained into the country or advance made towards the capital.

shall devour] bath devoured. The term "bars" may be used meta­phorically to describe the forts themselves; or literally, the bars of the gates of such defences. When the gates are burnt the forts fall.

14, All the defences of the country up to the capital are fallen before the enemy. Nineveh must prepare for the siege.

fortijj, thy stnmg holds] i.e. make strong thy defence works. The "strongholds" here are the fortified places, whether outworks or wall towers, of the city itself.

make strong the brick-kiln] Rather: take hold of the brick mould. The words explain the previous phrases "go into the clay" &c. The exhortation is to prepare bricks to strengthen the walls, make new works, or repair the breaches. The great double outer rampart on the east of the city appears to have been partly of brick and partly of earth; the walls of the city itself were formed partly at least of blocks of lime­stone (mussel chalk). Comp. Layard, Nineveh, u. p. 275.

115. There] amidst her brick moulds, shall the fire devour her, the sword cut her off. The "fire" is said of the city, the sword of the inhabitants. The remains of Nineveh shew that the city was destroyed by fire.

like the canke1-worm] Perhaps: young locust, before it attains ability to fly (v. 16), as distinguished from "locust" in the end of the verse. In any case the word is a name for locust, whatever "cankerworm" may mean, Joel i. 4; Ps. cv. 34. The phrase: the sword shall consume thee as the young locust, can only mean, in numbers as great as young locusts Uer. Ii. 14)-many as the young locust though thou art. The comparison is peculiar, though the idea is amplified in the next clause. The text is possibly in disorder.

Make thyself many] The imperatives can only be concessive-many as the young locusts shouldst thou make thyself. The first "make thy­self many" is masc. and the second fem., which is scarcely possible in grammar. Sept. read the last part of the verse in a shorter form,

vv. 17, 18.J NAHUM, III. 43

The cankerworm spoileth, and flieth away. Thy crowned are as the locusts, and thy captains as the ,7

great grasshoppers, Which camp in the hedges in the cold day, But when the sun ariseth they flee away, And their place is not known where they are. Thy shepherds slumber, 0 king of Assyria : thy nobles 18

shall dwell in the dust :

though the last clause of v. 16 seems to require it in some shape. The words are connected with v. 16.

16. spoileth] lit. strips off, i.e. probably its skin or shard, which confines its wings. If this be the sense Tennyson's lines finely ex­press it-

To-day I saw the dragon-fly Come from the wells where he did lie. An inner impulse rent the vail Of his old husk ; from head to tail Came out clear plates of sapphire mail. He dried his wings: like gauze they grew; Through crofts and pastures wet with dew, A living flash of light he flew.

17. The idea at the end of v. r6 is amplified. Thy crowned] The word is unknown. It is probably an Assyrian

term, and is conjectured to mean nobles, or something similar. and thy captains] The word employed is taphsar {tiphsar, Jer. Ii. 27),

which appears to be the Assyr. dupsar, i.e. tablet writer, scribe, a term most likely used in a wider sense to denote high officials. Cf. Is. xlvii. 13. See Schrader, i. 141, ii. u8, Del., Paradies, p. 142. The identi­fication of the word with the Assyr. title is due to Lenormant.

the great grasshoppers]. The term means locusts, Am. vii. r. So in Arab. e.g. Carmina Hudhail. 139. 7. The word appears to be here written twice (possibly by mistake), which A. V. has sought to express by "great" and R.V. by "swarms."

when the sun ariseth they flee away] Locusts become torpid with the cold ; under the warmth of the sun they revive and take flight.

18. Thy shepherds slumber] i.e. the leaders and rul.ers. It is most suitable to the connexion to take slumber (which is the ordinary word for sleep) to mean, are sunk in death-Ps. xiii. 3, "Lest I sleep the sleep of death." Ps. lxxvi. 5; Jer. Ii. 39, 57.

shall dwell in the dust] dwell, R. V. are at rest. The text reads dwell, but change of one letter gives lie down, i.e. sleep; 1 Kings i. 21; Is. xiv. r8. So Sept., followed by Wellhausen. The leaders are fallen, and the people scattered upon the mountains. This is more natural than to suppose that "slumber" and "sleep" refer to slothful inactivity on the part of the Assyrian leaders. Nineveh was defended for two years against the Medes.

44 NAHUM, III. [v. 19,

Thy people is scattered upon the mountains, and no man gathereth them.

•9 There is no healing of thy bruise; thy wound is grievous : All that hear the bruit of thee shall clap the hands over

thee: For upon whom bath not thy wickedness passed continually?

19, no healing ef thy bruise] Lit. thy breach, a favourite word of Jeremiah, e.g. vi. 14, viii. u, 'H, "the hurt of the daughter of my people." The hurt of Nineveh is incurable (Jer, xxx. 12), her ruin shall be eternal,

the bruit of thee] i.e. the report of thy downfall. clap the hands] A gesture of illwill and malevolent gladness. upon whom hath not thy wickedness passed] Assyria has been the foe

and the scourge of the human race.

HABAKKUK.

INTRODUCTION.

§ r. THE PROPHET.

BEYOND his name, which does not occur again, nothing is known of the Prophet. The word I::[aba½:½:u½: probably means "embrace," or, if its doubly intensive form be taken into account, "ardent embrace." The Greek form of the name, Hambakoum 1, would rather suggest the pronunciation Habbakuk. It is pos­sible that the abstract "embrace" was used for object of embrace, darling or delight, a natural enough name for a child (2 Kings iv. 16). In Assyrian lfambaffeul!u is said to be the name of a plant.

The superscription to the Septuagint rendering of Bel and the Dragon states that the story was taken "From the prophecy of Hamqakoum, son of Jesus, of the tribe of Levi." Whether such an Apocryphal prophecy ever existed may be doubtful. The Levitical origin of the prophet is most likely an inference from the musical notes to eh. iii., particularly the last words of the chapter "on my stringed instruments" (though Sept. reads his for my). According to Epiphanius Habakkuk belonged to Bethzochar or Bethzachar (which is probably Bethzacharias in the south of Judah, 1 Mace. vi. 32, Joseph. Bell. 'Jud. I. 1, 5), of the tribe of Simeon. It is said that when Jerusalem fell in 586 he fled to Ostracine on the borders of Egypt, but returned

l So Swete, Septuagint, 'Aµ{Ja.Kovµ.

HABAKKUK.

to his native place on the withdrawal of the Chaldeans (cf. Jer. xl. II, 12), and died two years before the return of the exiles from Babylon. His tomb was pointed out in Keilah. The story of Bel and the Dragon (v. 33 seq.) says: "Now there was in Jewry the prophet Habakkuk, who had made pottage, and had broken bread into a bowl, and was going into the field, for to bring.it to the reapers. But the angel of the Lord said unto Habakkuk, Go carry the dinner that thou hast into Babylon unto Daniel, in the lions' den .... Then the angel of the Lord took him by the crown, and lifted him up by the hair of the head; and with the blast of his breath set him in Babylon over -the den." This took place after Babylon had fallen, when Cyrus was king. It may be questioned if any grain of truth can be found among these fables. Both traditions extend the lifetime of Habakkuk to about the downfall of Babylon before Cyrus (B.C. 538), and it would be in conformity with the sense of the traditions to infer that Habakkuk's prophetic message could not have been delivered long before the destruction of Jerusalem in 586. The internal evidence of the prophecy itself points to the same conclusion.

§ 2. THE PROPHECY.

There are very great difficulties connected with the ex­position of the prophecy. First, it is not clear whether eh. i. 1-4 refer to internal evil and wrong on the part of Israelites to each other, or to acts of violence and oppression committed upon Israel by a conqueror from without. And secondly, the Chaldeans are referred to in eh. i. 5-1 I in a way not quite easy to understand, vv. 5, 6 seeming to say that they are about to be raised up, while '11'11. 7-1 I appear to describe them and their operations in war as if they were already familiar. If they are referred to in eh. i. 12-17, as is natural to conclude from the connexion, the prophet's acquaintance with them is if possible more evident, and the words in eh. ii. 17 "the violence done to Lebanon shall cover thee" plainly imply that their depredations had already extended to Palestine.

i. Ch. i. 1-4 may be understood as a complaint regarding

INTRODUCTION. 47

internal wrong and injustice in Israel, in the manner of all the ancient prophets. This is the most natural sense of the verses and of the words used in them (see notes). On this view the progress of thought would be the following: (1) the prophet complains that his outcries against the evil, the injustice and lawlessness in Judah remain unheard by Jehovah, who dis­regards the evil. (2) In answer to his complaint the1rise of the Chaldeans is announced. The fierceness of the people is described-a bitter and hasty nation; the lightning-like move­ments of their cavalry; their contempt of all resistance; and finally their impious deifying of their own might (vv. 5-7). (3) But the wrongdoing of the Chaldean is more unbearable than the evil it was meant to punish. The Chaldean is the scourge of mankind._ The moral problem before the prophet­how God can silently look upon wrong and inhumanity-is not eased but intensified. In eh. i. 1-4 he asked how Jehovah could endure evil in Israel; now he has to ask how His pure eyes can behold it upon the stage of the world, and in a degree infinitely aggravated. The character of the Chaldeans fills his mind, their pride and selfishness, their brutal inhumanity which drags all nations into their net like fishes, and heaps men together like creeping things, their deifying their own strength, and he asks in despair if God will permit all this to go on for ever (i. 12-17). (4) Baffled before the obscurities and anomalies of God's government the prophet betakes himself to his watch­tower to look forth if God will vouchsafe an answer to his "plea." The answer comes in the shape of a moral distinction: "his soul is not upright in him, but the righteous shall live in his faithfulness." The different characters of the Chaldean and the righteous carry in them their different destinies. The moral distinction involves its final verification in events, though this may not come· at once (ii. 1-5). It is, however, certain; and the downfall of the Chaldean is predicted in a series of woes so · instinct with moral feeling that not only men ( vv. 6-8), but inanimate things (v. u), are endowed with a conscience that rises against the barbarous inhumanity of the oppressor (vv. 6-20).

HABAKKUK.

On this view it is plain that when the prophet writes, the Chaldeans are already long on the stage of history, and well known in western Asia and even in Palestine. This indeed is plain on any hypothesis if chs. i., ii. form a unity, as the remarks in the beginning of this section shew. Therefore eh. i. 5- I I

is not a prophecy of the raising up of the Chaldeans except in form. It is a reference to the past, an explanation merely of their presence and meaning as instruments of Jehovah. The real subject of the prophet's Book is the destruction of the Chaldean ( eh. ii.). Ch. i. ( or at least eh. i. I -II) is preliminary, and has the dramatic form of a dialogue between the prophet and Jehovah. It is a discussion or exhibition of principles, the first draft of questionings that at a later time often found expression. Ch. i. is a moral weighing of the meaning of Israel's history. In this history these things come into view: first, the sin of Isra~l-looked at exclusively in a moral light. This sin is confessed and bewailed, and Jehovah is appealed to how He can look upon it. The historical meaning of the appeal is that He cannot look upon it, has not looked upon it. The nation's condition is His judgment upon it. For, secondly, the Chaldean is the punishment of it.

In these two points the prophet reads his people's history as all the prophets do. And the preexilic prophets do not usually, except in glimpses, see further. To them the Chaldeans were so much the instruments of Jehovah in chastising the sins of Israel that their own excesses were little attended to. The evil in Israel seemed so flagrant that the cruelties of the conquerors appeared only just punishment of it. This is the view of Jeremiah and particularly of Ezekiel. It is only later, during the exile, and in particular toward the end of it, as in Is. xiii., xiv., xxi. 1-ro, xl. seq., that the excesses of the Chaldeans are viewed as demanding God's vengeance (Is. xlvii.). But thirdly, already this view is prominent in Habakkuk. It is not the mere occurrence of a denunciation of the Chaldeans that· is surprising, it is the almost entire devotion of the prophecy to it in the manner of writers of a later time. Preexilic prophets predict the downfall of Babylon, e.g. J er. Ii. 59-64 and in other

INTRODUCTION. 49

places. It is also tacitly assumed by Ezekiel when he promises restoration to Egypt and Israel after forty years. And a similar conception of providence appears in Isaiah, who prophesies the destruction of the Assyrian when God's work by him shall be accomplished (Is. viii. 9, ro, x., xiv. 24, xvii. I2, xviii. 4). But in all these prophets it is the sin of Israel and its chastisement that occupies the foreground, while the destruction of the oppressor is seen only as the distant culmination of God's providential rule of the world in the interests of His kingdom. In Habakkuk on the contrary the excesses and violence of the oppressor occupy nearly the whole field of the prophet's vision. This could hardly be if he was only predicting the rise of the Chaldeans. Their barbarities were familiar. And the thought rises in the prophet's mind that though Israel might be sinful the instrument used to chastise them was even more the foe of God, as he was the scourge of mankind. Such thoughts could not arise early in the Chaldean period, hardly one would think before the deportation of the people under Jehoiachin in 597. The vision of the prophet in eh. ii. is the answer to these reflections. It is to be noticed that the relief promised is not represented as going to be immediate: the vision may tarry. and must be waited for (ii. 3). Jeremiah had predicted that the Chaldean supremacy would last two generations. The problem here raised for the first time by Habakkuk continued to oppress the minds of pious Israelites all down the people's history. It is the problem of Job and of many psalms; and when the Romans destroyed the Temple and nation the mystery appeared only deeper than before: 2 Esdras iii. 29-31, "Are the deeds of Babylon better than those of Sion ? Or is there any other nation that knoweth thee beside Israel?" Cf. Apoc. of Baruch, xi. 2, 3.

ii. The construction of the Book just stated has something artificial in it. To regard the prophet's complaints in i. 1--4 as not strictly real but only a method of stating one of the terms of a problem, viz. Israel's sinfulness, is rather unnatural. And similarly to take the announcement of the rise of the Chaldeans and the description of their prowess in war, as only

N.H.L 4

50 HABAKKUK.

a method of stating the second term of the problem, viz. that the Chaldean invasion is the chastisement of Israel's sin, cer­tainly puts a strain upon the natural sense. To many expositors eh. i. 1-4 seem rather to refer to oppressions suffered by Israel from an external foe, presumably the Chaldeans. But if i. 1-4 already describe the oppressive acts of the Chaldeans it is obvious that vv. 5-11, which speak of raising them up, are out of place. Hence some scholars have proposed to put these verses before vv. 1-41, while others would remove them al­together, regarding them as a fragment of some prophecy of the rise of the Chaldeans by another prophet, which has acci­dentally drifted into its present awkward place2• The proposal to read vv. 5-11 before vv. 1-4 will not commend itself, while the removal of vv. 5-11 from the prophecy altogether rather cuts the knot than looses it.

iii. An entirely different and very interesting way of reading the prophecy has recently been suggested by Prof. Budde 3•

This scholar agrees with the writers just named in regarding eh. i. 1-4 as descriptive of oppressions suffered by Israel from an external foe. He therefore also considers vv. 5-11 to be out of place; the order of eh. i. is vv. 1-4, 12-17. In eh. i. the Chaldean has no place. It is not he that is the oppressor of Israel, but another-the Assyrian. The prophecy predicts the destruction of the Assyrians, and the Chaldeans are God's instruments who are to be raised up for this purpose. The passage eh. i. 5-II is authentic, but has been misplaced. Its right position is after eh. ii. 4.

In the way of this attractive hypothesis there are rather serious difficulties, some of which may be mentioned.

(r) The transposition of vv. 5-II from their true place after eh. ii. 4 into eh. i. is difficult to account for. Budde offers a very ingenious explanation. In the original prophecy of Habakkuk the Chaldeans were represented as the destroyers

1 Giesebrecht, Beitrage zur Jesaiakritik, p. 197 (1890). 2 Wellhausen, Skizzen v. Other earlier solutions of the difficulty

are noticed by Kuenen, Onderz. § 76. 8 Stud, tt, Krit, 1893, Helt 2, Expositor, May, 1895.

INTRODUCTION. 51

of Assyria and the liberators of Israel. This role of redeemers of Israel was so little verified in history that at a later time it appeared incredible that such an idea could ever have been expressed. And in the process of editing the Book an effort was made to remove so strange a mistake. The part played by the Chaldean was changed. Instead of the liberator of Israel he was made the oppressor, and instead of the destroyer of another he became himself the one to be destroyed. And a prophecy that really referred to the Assyrian was henceforth read as applying to the Chaldean. Such an alteration would not be made earlier than 538, when the Babylonian empire fell before Cyrus.

This is possible; if it be true, criticism is not without its romance.

(2) It is strange that in a prophecy of two chapters against the Assyrian bis name should nowhere occur. The suggestion that the name Asshur possibly lies concealed in the word "and offend "1 (i. II) is little probable, for though the passage be difficult a reference to Assyria could hardly find place,

(3) To the objection that in i. 5-II the Chaldeans and their methods of warfare appear well known the author replies that so far from this being true the description of the Chaldean is quite phantastic and imaginative, and similar to Isaiah's picture of the Assyrians before they became known, Is. v. 26-30. This is not the impression which i. 5-rr leaves on other minds; the description appears quite as realistic as that in vv. 12-17, sup­posed to refer to the Assyrians. Both passages certainly have something singular about them. On the ordinary view that i. 5-11 is in its right place, and that the Chaldean is raised up to chastise Israel, it is strange that not a word is said of Israel in all the passage; it is the Chaldean's demeanour among the nations of the world universally that is described. And the same is true of i. 12-17, where the only reference to Israel is in the phrase "we shall not die," and a change of text adopted by many would remove even this reference. The prophet's

l Expositor, 1. c.

4-2

HABAKKUK.

reference to the nations in general is due to the universality of his moral conception, for it is not Israel alone that is "righteous" in contrast to the conqueror, but other peoples also (i. 13). His view is similar to that of Nahum ii., iii.

(4) Budde would date the prophecy about n.c. 621-15, in the years immediately following J osiah's reformation. During these years Israel had a "good conscience," which would explain the term "righteous" applied to the people (i. 4, 13). It is not Israel alone, however, that is called righteous but other nations also (i. 13); and even as applied to Israel the term "righteous" is a very uncertain criterion of date. The claim to "righteous­ness" is really a claim to be worshippers of the true God, and this claim was not made for the first time under Josiah (Numb. xxiii. ro); neither did it cease to be made after Josiah's death. Ezek. xxv. 8 appears to intimate that even the nations were not unaware of Israel's claim to this preeminence. The epithet "wicked" bestowed on the nations is the counterpart of "righteous" applied to Israel, and means primarily that the nations did not know Jehovah the true God. The ant~thesis is clearly expressed in Jer. x. 24, 25, where Israel prays: "0 Lord, correct me, but with judgment ... pour out thy fury upon the heathen that know thee not, and on the peoples that call not on thy name." And the antithesis is current in all subsequent literature; cf. Is. xiii. I 1, xiv. 5, !iii. 9, xxvi. ro; Hab. iii. 13. And on the claim of the people to righteousness even after the fall of the city, cf. Lam. v. 7. See also 2 Kings xxiv. 3; Jer. xxxi. 29; Ezek. xvi ii. 2.

To the date 621-15 B.c. there are several objections on the theory that the Assyrians are the subject of the prophecy. It is true that not much is known of the history of Assyria after the death of Assurbanipal in 626, but it is certain that its hold over the western provinces had become greatly relaxed. If eh. i. r-4 refer to violence and oppression on the part of the Assyrians the terms are greatly exaggerated if applied to the condition of Judah at the time. The phrase "the Torah is slacked," i.e. paralysed, does not consist well with the fact that Josiah was at the time carrying his reforming movement into the northern

INTRODUCTION. 53

kingdom without hindrance, and that a little later he disputed with Necho the possession of Galilee. Neither is the language "spoiling and violence are before me," " strife and contention riseth up," natural when applied to Judah of that day, which was virtually independent. Such language far exceeds what is said in Nahum i.

Again, the knowledge possessed by the prophet of the Chaldeans, and the great role of destroyers of the Assyrian power assigned to them, are not very probable at a date so early as 621-15. Nabopolassar, the Chaldean ruler of Babylon, was still probably the m,minal vassal of Assyria. The virtual independence of Babylon, was a thing that had occurred too often in history, and too often disappeared to awaken any great expectations. The Chaldeans, one of whose princes had seized the throne of Babylon, formed several small principalities about the mouths of the two great rivers and on the Persian Gulf, but there was nothing in their movements hitherto to suggest the great part they were to play after the fall of Nineveh made them heirs of an empire almost without a stroke. It is not certain whether they took part in the attack on Nineveh to which it succumbed; Herodotus ascribes the capture of the city to the Medes and does not refer to Babylon 1• The Medes were satisfied with the acquisition of Assyria proper, a country like their own, while the Chaldeans naturally pushed northward into Mesopotamia, meeting with no resistance till they en­countered the Egyptians at Carchemish on the fords of the Euphrates. The description of the Chaldeans in eh. i. 5-1 ,, the rush of their cavalry, the rapidity of their siege operations, the velocity of their movements, and their irresistible might, is scarcely conceivable before the battle of Carchemish (6o5-4). It is at this date that the Chaldeans first come within the horizon of Jeremiah (eh. xxv., xlvi,), for the foe from the North

1 Winckler, Altorient. Untersuck., I. 63, II. 170, Tke Medes and tke Fall of Ninevek. Clay tablets found iu Nippur shew that Babylon was still an Assyrian province in the fourth year of Assur-etil-ilani, the suc­cessor of Assurbanipal, and probably it continued to be so even in the reign of the last king. See Mi.irdter-Delitzsch, Gesck. Babvloniens u11d Assyriens, pp. 234, 235. See Appendix. ·

54 HABAKKUK.

of his earlier prophecies is rather, as most scholars suppose, the Scythians. And as late as the battle of Megiddo (e.c. 608) the historian still speaks of Assyria as the only power to be en­countered in the East, saying: "In his (J osiah's) days Pharaoh N echo, king of Egypt, went up against the king of Assyria to the river Euphrates" (2 Kings xxiii. 29; cf. 2 Chron. xxxv. 20).

(5) The woes pronounced in eh. ii. 5 ff. might be applied either to the Assyrians or Chaldeans ; there is little in them that favours one application more than another. The pride and overbearing demeanour referred to in eh. ii. 4 is elsewhere spoken of as characteristic of the Chaldeans; the term "pride" is a name given to Babylon, Jer. 1.. 3r, 32; comp. Hab. i. 7. The charge of "spoiling" all nations and being the foe and oppressor of mankind, though made by Nahum against Assyria (eh. iii. r, 19), is elsewhere brought against Babylon: "How art thou cut down to the ground that didst lay prostrate the nations ! " " Is this the man that made the earth to tremble, that did shake kingdoms, that made the world as a wilderness and destroyed the cities thereof?" (Is. xiv. 6, 12, 16; cf. Hab. i. 10). The reference to "violence toward Lebanon" (eh. ii. 17) finds a parallel in Is. xiv. 8, "the fir-trees rejoice at thee, and the cedars of Lebanon, saying, Since thou art laid down no feller cometh up against us," though of course the Assyrians used the wood of Lebanon for their buildings no less than the Babylonians. The charge of contemptuous, humiliation of conquered nations and kings, under the figure of making them drunk and looking on their shame, is one that might be made against any ancient conqueror (Jer. Ii. 7). Perhaps the language "to set his nest on high" ( eh. ii. 9) is more suitable to Nineveh than Babylon, but little stress can be laid on words in any case figurative.

There is, however, one point which is rather adverse to the supposition that different nations are referred to in i. 5-1 I and i. 12-17. In i. 16 the nation spoken of deifies its might or its weapons, " they sacrifice to their net, and bum incense unto their drag." In i. 1 I virtually the same thing is said of the Chaldeans, "this his power becometh his god." It is improbable

INTRODUCTION. 55

that the same thing should be said of two different nations; and is it not doubly improbable that such an impious trait should be attributed to the Chaldeans at the same time that they are represented as Jehovah's instruments for overthrowing the godless Assyrians? Equally strange is the statement in i. 9j "they come all for violence," or, "wrong," if said of a people who were going to play the part ofliberators of Israel.

The verses eh. i; 5-11 would not read quite naturally after eh. ii. 4. It may be the case that ii. 5 does not follow ii. 4 naturally, but the true reading of v. 5 has been lost. And finally, in the woes pronounced on the oppressor it is all the remnant of the peoples that shall rise up against him and spoil him (ii. 7, 8), and not a particular nation such as the Chaldeans.

It must be acknowledged that the way in which the oppressor is spoken of in i. 12-17 and ii. implies close acquaintance with him. If he is the Chaldean, Judah must already have suffered from the ravages of that people. If the oppressor could be supposed to be the Assyrian, the prophet's familiarity with him would be quite natural. The prophecy would then form a complete parallel to that _of Nahum, to which in any case it has many similarities. The difficulties, however, in the way of supposing the Assyrian the subject of the prophecy, some of which have been mentioned, are very considerable. Upon the whole the first mentioned theory, which accepts eh. i. as it stands, and explains vv. 1-4 of wrong doing on the part of the people of Judah themselves, is the one which has fewest diffi­culties, though it must be confessed that the interpretation which is put upon eh. i. I-II is not quite natural.

§ 3. INTEGRITY OF THE PROPHECY,

The difficulties connected with eh. i. 5-1 I have been sufficiently adverted to in § 2. A number of scholars have contended that the passage eh. ii. 9-20 is an addition to the genuine prophecy of Habakkuk, which itself goes no further

HABAKKUK.

than ii. 8. The objections to the genuineness of vv. 9-20 do not appear of great weight. They are fully stated by Kuenen, Vol. II. 388.

Kuenen has the feeling that the strophe vv. 9-n, "Woe to him that gaineth evil gains for his house that he may set his nest on high, that he may be delivered from the hand of evil" &c., could hardly have been said of the Chaldean. It is not quite clear where the difficulty lies. Surely "delivered from the hand of evil" need not imply present danger but might be said of prospective or possible calamity. There may be some un­certainty as to the text of ,z,, JO, but the idea expressed in it "thou hast consulted shame to thy house," finds a parallel in Is. xiv. 20, "thou hast destroyed thy land, and slain thy people." Hitzig thought that the passage applied to J ehoiakim (J er. xxii. r 3), but another commentator has well asked, Did J ehoiakim cut off many peoples? (v. IO).

The originality of the strophe vv. 15-17 is also doubted by Kuenen, partly on account of the repetition of v. 8 in v. r 7 ; and partly because devastations of Lebanon are mentioned, "of which nothing is known." The repetition of a refrain is of course usual; the repetition rather tends to shew that v. 17 is by the same author as v. 8, whi~h is acknowledged to be authentic. The statement that "nothing is known" of devas­tations of Lebanon by the Chaldeans is strange; certainly the author of Is. xiv. 8 knew of them: "The fir-trees rejoice over thee, the cedars of Lebanon, saying, Since thou art laid down no feller cometh up against us." Kuenen also appears to think that the words "woe to him that giveth his neighbour drink" refer to some actual occurrence. It is said that Cyaxares made the Scythian chiefs drunk at a banquet and then murdered them. Whether the story be true or not there is not much likelihood that a writer in Judah had heard of it. At all events the charge against the Chaldean here is different; it is that he made his neighbour drunk, not in order to murder him, but to look upon his shame. The figurativeness of the whole passage is evident from the threat that the Chaldean himself shall be treated in the same way: he also shall be made drunk and lie

INTRODUCTION. 57

uncovered; and it is the cup of Jehovah's right hand of which he shall drink.

It appears improbable to Kuenen that the strophe vv. 18-20

can refer to the Chaldeans, because the prophet could hardly have blamed a heathen nation for its idolatry; the idolaters whom he has in view must be people "who knew better" (i.e. some persons not heathens). The whole scope of the passage is against Kuenen's interpretation of it. What the prophet assails in these verses is idolatry in itself, the idolatry of the heathen. It is in writers of a somewhat later date that this theoretical condemnation of idolatry is common, e.g. Is. xl. 18 seq., xliv. 9 seq., xlvi. 5 seq., Jer. x. I-IO (verses later than J er.), Ps. cxv. 4-8, earlier prophets. usually condemn idolatry in Israel. The prophet, however, anticipates in so remarkable a manner several modes of thought common at a later time that the difficulty cannot be called serious ; and as to the improba­bility of a prophet condemning the heathen for their idolatry, it may be said that the prophets sometimes judge the conduct of the heathen from their own point of view rather than from that of the heathen themselves. Thus in Is. xlvii. IO a con­sciousness of wrongdoing is ascribed to Babylon which she can scarcely have had, "Thou hast trusted in thy wickedness, thou hast said, None seeth me"; and Is. x. 10, 11 makes the king cif Assyria call the idols of the nations "vanities," which is Isaiah's own word for them. Comp. remarks, Ezekiel, Cambridge Bible, pp. 179, 180.

More plausible is the objection to the strophe vv. 12-14,

which appears to contain reminiscences of several passages, some of which are late. Thus v. 12 is similar to Mic. iii. 10; v. 14 to Is. xi. 9, and v. r3 to Jer. Ii. 58. Both Micah and Isaiah are earlier than Habakkuk, but J er. Ii. in its present form is probably later. The words in Jer., apart from the transposition of "vanity" and "fire," have something unusual in their con­struction, and seem rather loosely connected with the preceding clause. The words therefore may be original in Habakkuk, and this all the more, seeing that J er. 1., li. are so greatly coloured by reminiscences from earlier prophecies. The phrase, "Behold

HABAKKUK.

is it not of the Lord of hosts?" (v. 13) is peculiar, and the reading followed by the Sept., "Are not these things from the Lord of hosts?" is simpler. Even this reading does not imply that what follows, " the peoples shall labour for the fire," is a quotation, though it permits that sense. These (i.e. the following) things may refer to the contents of the statement, and these may be the prophet's own. Opinions will differ on

• the question whether Habakkuk was likely to quote Isaiah and Micah.

The question whether eh. iii .. belong to the prophecy of Habakkuk, or be an independent poem, cannot be answered with certainty. The musical directions with which the poem is provided shew that it was at some time or other used in the musical service of the Temple. Such musical directions may be assumed to be post-exile ; at all events they are probably in no case due to the authors of the hymns to which they are appended (see notes on iii. 19). Kuenen has inferred from the musical notes that the hymn once belonged to a book of sacred songs, from which it has been transferred to the Book of the prophet, possibly because ascribed to him in a Title, just as certain psalms are ascribed in the Sept. to the prophets Haggai and Zechariah (Ps. cxlvi. ff.). On this supposition the authorship of Habakkuk would be very uncertain, for even in the Psalter the names of authors given in the Titles to the Psalms are in many cases nothing more than conjectures or traditions of more or less antiquity. The alternative supposition would be that, though an integral part of the prophecy, the poem was used in the liturgical service, and that the musical directions with which it was provided for this purpose continued to stand. Such a use of any part of a prophetic book has no parallel.

The passage is very indefinite, giving no clue to the occasion on which it was written, and it has few points of contact with the prophecy, eh. i. ii. The "day of trouble" (eh. iii. 16) cannot be the Chaldean invasion (eh. i. 5 ff.), for the whole scope of the prophecy shews that the Chaldeans were already present ; neither does the prophecy suggest any approaching aggravation in the Chaldean oppression; all that is stated is that immediate

INTRODUCTION. 59

relief from it cannot be guaranteed (eh. ii. 3). The "day of trouble" is manifestly a theophany, a manifestation of Jehovah for the deliverance of His people, like that of the Exodus; such a manifestation is terrible even though its issue be salvation (Is. xxi. 1-10). The passage, eh. ii. 4, which contains an implicit promise of the destruction of the oppressor, does not_ suggest a theophany, and in the following woes the judgment is executed on the Chaldean not by the Lord directly but by the nations, who rise up and spoil their spoiler. At the same time it is possible that the prophet might have idealized the destruction of the Chaldean as a great interposition and reve­lation of Jehovah, as other prophets do (Is. xiii.). The last verse of eh. ii., "Be silent. before him all the earth," perhaps suggests a self-revelation of the Lord which all flesh shall behold, and eh. iii. attaches itself very well to these words.

There is little else in the poem that has any bearing on date or authorship. The application of the term "anointed" to the people might suggest that the royal house no longer existed (Ps. cv. I 5). The tone of reflection on Providence which is characteristic of the prophecy (cf. Jer. xii. I ff.), and which makes the Book read almost like a chapter from the literature of the Wisdom, is very unlike the manner of eh. iii., which has affinities rather with lyrics of a pretty late age. At the same time the date of the hymn cannot be brought down very low, for traces of its influence appear in Ps. lxxvii. I 5-20.

§ 4. CONTENTS OF THE BOOK,

Chap. i. (1) The prophet complains that his appeals to God against the violence and wrongdoing in Israel remain unheard by Jehovah, who beholds the evil in silence (vv. 1-4).

(2) In answer to his complaint the prophet's view is directed to the Chaldeans. This people is described-their fierceness, the lightning-like movements of their cavalry, their irresistible onset, their contempt for kings who oppose them, and fortresses that bar their way, and finally their deifying their own might (vv. 5-11).

6o HABAKKUK.

(3) The answer does not ease but rather aggravates the moral problem before the prophet-how the righteous Ruler of the world can look in silence upon the wrongs perpetrated on the earth. The character of the Chaldeans fills his mind, their cruelties and inhumanity, their remorseless and contemptuous trampling upon the nations of the earth, whom they sweep into their net as if they were fishes of the sea and creeping things, and he asks in despair, Will God suffer all this to go on for ever? (vv. 12-17).

Ch. ii. (1) The prophet's "plea" or remonstrance (i. 12-17) is finished, and he sets himself as a watchman to look forth if God will vouchsafe an answer to his pleading. He is bidden write the answer, when it comes, on the tablets, that all may read it easily. The answer is given in the shape of.a moral distinction, and this distinction carries in it the different destinies of the Chaldean and the Righteous-destruction on the one side and life on the other (vv. 1-4).

(2) The destruction of the Chaldean is predicted in a series of woes upon the evil traits of his nature and upon his deeds (vv. 5-20). (a) Woe upon his insatiable lust of conquest (vv. 5-8). (b) Woe on his rapacity and self-aggrandisement (vv. 9-II). (c) Woe on his oppression of the peoples to gratify his architectural pride (vv. 12-14). (d) Woe on his contemptuous humiliation of prostrate potentates and nations (vv. 15-17). (e) Woe upon his irrational idolatries (vv. 18-20).

Chap. iii. (1) A prayer that Jehovah would renew His great ancient "work" in delivering His people. It is the community or people into whose mouth the prayer is put. Though fear seizes them when they hear or think of His terrible revelation of Himself at the Exodus (cf. Ex. xiv. 30, 31), nevertheless they pray that He would renew this work again at this late time in their history; only when He comes forth in wrath let Him remember mercy! (vv. 1, 2).

(2) Brilliant description of the ancient Theophany (vv. 3 -15). (a) The Theophany in the form of a tempest in which Jehovah reveals Himself in awful light. The terror of nature

INTRODUCTION. 61

and men at His presence (vv. 3-7). (b) The poet asks, What is the purpose of Jehovah's manifestation? Is His wrath against the river_s and the sea? The question is a rhetorical way of giving expression to the destructive effects on nature of J ehovah's revelation of Himself, and leads to a new description of these effects. The mountains tremble, the sea rises in wild com­motion, and sun and moon hide themselves in terror at His glittering arrows as they fly (vv. 6-11). (c) The question of the purpose of J ehovah's appearing is answered: He is come forth for the salvation of His people, His anointed. Description of the destruction of their adversaries, Pharaoh and his host, who thought to swallow them up (vv. 12-15). Verse 16 ex­presses anew the alarm which the recital or thought of J ehovah's manifestation occasions.

(3) Conclusion (vv. 17-19). The people expresses its joy in the Lord. Though earthly blessings fail He remaius their portion. And from Him they draw a freshness of life, a sense of freedom and power, which are unfailing.

The prophet's language is forcible, and his style, owing to the form of dialogue into which· he throws his thoughts, highly dramatic. If the interpretation adopted in the notes be correct, eh. i. 1-4 refers to sin and wrongdoing in Israel; if the opinion of many interpreters of the prophecy be accepted, these verses relate to acts of oppression suffered by Israel. In the latter case the prophet would make hardly any reference to the sin of his own people (eh. i. 12), and the prophecy would in this respect be similar to that of Nahum. In any case the two prophets have several points of agreement. First, while Nahum makes no reference to the sin of his own people, the reference in Habakkuk occupies a subordinate place. In both it is the cruelty and atrocious inhumanity of the oppressor that engrosses attention. Secondly, the view of both prophets is universal, embracing the world. The oppressor is denounced, not merely for his unrighteous acts against Israel, but because he is the enemy of mankind. In contrast to him other nations besides Israel are "righteous" ( eh. i. 13). And thirdly, both prophets

62 HABAKKUK.

have the same lofty conception of Jehovah, God of Israel. His rule embraces the world, the destinies of the nations and man­kind universally are in His hand. It is their universalistic conception of Jehovah which explains the broad view which they take of the history of nations and the life of mankind over all the earth. But while Nahum's strong faith in the power and righteousness of Jehovah assured him of the speedy downfall of the oppressor, the. more contemplative mind of his contemporary Habakkuk found a hard moral problem in the fact that God looked on in silence while men perpetrated their deeds of violence upon the earth. To all reflective minds in Israel the problem of problems was God. " It is God," says Job, "that maketh my heart faint, and the Almighty that troubleth me" (xxiii. 16). It is to God eventually that all that happens in the history of nations and in the life of men must be referred. As the problem before the prophet is moral, and therefore universal, so the solution which he reaches is also moral and of universal validity. The different characters of the oppressor and those who are oppressed respectively carry in them their different destinies ( eh. ii. 4).

The subordinate place given by the prophet to the sin of Israel, and the strong light into which he throws the ruthlessness of their oppressor, in such vivid contrast to his contemporaries, Zephaniah and Jeremiah, is remarkable (cf. § 2, p. 48 f.). Equally remarkable is his reflection on the moral problems raised by the history of his people and of the nations. Both peculiarities are characteristic of a later period in the literature of Israel. If the date of Habakkuk had to be fixed from the circle of his ideas alone he might be assigned to the end of the Exile or later. The instance shews how precarious it is to draw inferences as to the date of a passage or a writing solely from the ideas which it contains. The literature is far too scanty to enable us to trace the course of religious thought and language with any such certainty as to fix the dates at which particular ideas or expressions arose. Even when it can be said of a mode of thought and language that it is characteristic of a particular time, as for example the post-Exile period, it. should not be

INTRODUCTION.

forgotten that a mode never arises all at once. An earlier period may be expected to shew individual instances of what is observed to be the fashion of a later period. The argument that, if similar ideas occur in two passages or two writings, they may be assigned to the same age, leaves no room for indi­viduality in the different writers. The Books of Jeremiah and Habakkuk shew conclusively enough how different the reflections were which God's Providence in His treatment of His people awoke in the minds of two contemporary prophets.

HABAKKUK.

T HE burden which Habakkuk the prophet did see. 1 0 LORD, how long shall I cry, and thou wilt not hear?,

Even cry out unto thee of violence, and thou wilt not save?

CHAP. I. l, Tke burden] the oracle. Comp. ii. 6 "take up" a proverb.

Numb. xxiii. 7; Is. xiv. 4, See Nahum i. r. did see] Comp. Is. ii. 1 "tke word that Isaiah saw"; xiii. 1 "the

oracle which Isaiah did see." Am. i. I ; Mic. i. 1. In the early times of prophecy the ecstasy or exalted condition of mind was more usual and the things revealed to the prophet were seen by him. Thus Micaiah ben Jimlah said: "I saw all Israel scattered upon the hills, as sheep that have not a shepherd" I Kings XKii. 17, 19. In later times these terms "see," "vision" and the like, which had been formed in the early period, continued to be retained, and any revelation was called a· "vision," and "see" was employed of the act of receiving a revelation, even when it was a word (Is. ii. 1 ). On the name Habakkuk see Introduction.

2-4. THE PROPHET'S COMPLAINT THAT HE HAS LONG CRIED OUT AGAINST EVILS UNHEARD,

2. kvw long- shall I cry] lit. shall I kave c1·ied? Ex. x. 3, xvi. ~8; Ps. lxxx. 4. The prophet's cry extends back into the past. But though he has been long crymg he bas received no answer from Heaven; the evil proceeds unchecked, even unregarded of God (v. 3).

wilt not kear] dost not hear. even cry out unto tkee of violence] I cry out unto thee of violence

(or, Violence! this being the word which forms his cry). Job xix. 7; Jer. xx. 8. The term "violence" is equivalent to wrong, injury, whether accompanied with force or not, Gen. xvi. 5.

wilt not save] dost not aave, or, give deliverance, Ps. xviii. 41 (Heh, 41). The cry of wrong and injury though long continued has evoked no interposition of God, nor been met with any help. The prophet seems certainly to complain not only of injury which he sees around him, but which he suffers (Job xix. 7; Jer. xx. 8). But it may be a question when he says "l ''. whether he does not make himself one

N, H, Z, 5

66 HABAKKUK, I. [vv. 3, 4.

3 Why dost thou shew me iniquity, and cause me to behold grievance?

For spoiling and violence are before me: And there are that raise up strife and contention.

4 Therefore the law is slacked, and judgment doth never go forth:

with some class in Israel, namely, the godly, who are wronged by the wicked, or with Israel as a people, which suffers injury at the hands of a foreign oppressor.

a. sliew me iniquity] cause me to see iniquity. God by His interposition might have checked the iniquity; by His refraining the continuance of it is virtually due to Him. One thing pains the prophet -that he has to behold iniquity; and another perplexes him-that God, the Righteous One, brings him into such a trial, or leaves him in it. The Hebrew mind was the more profoundly agitated by the moral anomalies in the world, because it could not help ascribing them directly to God, Who was the immediate cause of all things. The feeling is often expressed in Job, e.g. xxiii. 16, 17.

The term "iniquity" is used both of physical evil, "affliction" (Jer. iv. 14; Job v. 6), and moral evil, "wickedness"; here of the latter, as generally, e.g. in the common phrase "workers of iniquity."

cause me to behold grievance] and dost look upon trouble. The term grievance or trouble (v. 13 R.V.perverseness), properly "labour,"toil, has also the double sense of misery, pain, sorrow, travail (Is. !iii. 11), or mischief, wrongdoing (Ps. vii. 15, xciv. 20; Is. lix. 4). The latter half of the verse "spoiling and violence" is in favour of understanding all the terms not so much of evils suffered as of evils inflicted. The prophet is perplexed because God looks on unconcerned when men perpetrate wrong.

. spoiling and violence are before me] The words again combined, Jer. vi. 7, xx. 8; Ezek. xlv. 9; Am. iii. 10. The term "spoiling" means violent mishandling when used of a person, destruction or devastation when said of a thing. Is. xiii. 6; Job v. 21, 22; Hos. vii. 13; Ps. xii. 6. With "before me" comp. Jer. vi. 7.

there are that raise up strife] Rather as R. V. : and there ls strife, and contention rlseth up (for Heh. constr. cf. Ps. lxxxix. 9). This is the condition of things that has come about and prevails. The terms ''strife" and "contention " certainly suggest animosities between members of the same community rather than injuries inflicted on a subject people by their conquerors. The conquerors of Israel did not mix among the inhabitants or interfere with individual persons, they merely demanded political subjection and tribute, and the latter they collected not from the people but from their rulers. Comp. the use of the two words in Jer. xv. 10.

4. law is slacked] lit. numbed, rigid, i.e. motionless, paralysed and ineffectual. The term "law" (torak) means properly divine instruction given orally at the mouth of the priest (Jer. xviii. 18; Mai. ii. 6, 7);

v. 4.] HABAKKUK, I.

For the wicked doth compass about the righteous; Therefore wrong judgment proceedeth.

then also that given orally by the prophet (Is. i. 10), and more generally any oral instruction (Prov. i. 8, vi. 20). In a wider sense it is divine instruction regarding any subject, particularly matters of ritual; then specially of the law of Moses in Deuteronomy, and finally of the whole Pentateuch. In some cases the word seems generalized to mean the revelation as a whole communicated to Israel, particularly as being essentially the true knowledge of the true God, which it is the mission of Israel the servant of the Lord to impart to the nations, Is. xiii. 4 ; cf. xlix. 6, Ii. 4. Parallel to the word in this use is the term "judgment," e.g. Is. xiii. 3, 4 "till he have set judgment in the earth, and the isles shall look unto his torah." See next clause.

judgment doth never go forth] The word "never" does not seem anywhere to mean II at no time," "on no occasion," it appears always to refer to the future, e.g. Ps. x. 11; Is. xiii. '2o; Am. viii. 7. The words must therefore be rendered: and judgment s/,all never go forth­a sense unsuitable to the connexion.

It is probable that the word has here some modified meaning, and that the sense is akin to Is. xiii. 3 "judgment unto truth," or, according to truth, paraphrased "unto victory" Matt. xii. 20. "Law" here hardly means the specific decision of the priest on particular questions, nor 11judgment" the sentence of the magistrate in particular causes; rather the sense is: law, i.e. moral (social) law (Am. ii. 4; Hos. iv. 6) is paralysed and cannot assert its validity, and judgment, i.e. "right," comes not forth in its fulness, but is seen maimed. Others, as Well­hausen, take law and judgment in the sense they have in Is. x.l. seq., of the true religion of Jehovah, and consider the prophet's complaint to be that the predominance of the heathen powers represses the true religion and prevents its expansion and effectiveness. This sense is less in harmony with the other statements of the passage.

the wicked dotk compass about tke righteous] Unlike its use in Ps. cxlii. 7 11 compass" is employed here in a hostile sense, to hem in, so as to impair one's liberties and just rights (Job iii. z3). Both "righteous" and "wicked" are collective terms, referring to classes. The antithesis was used not on! y of two classes in Israel (Is. iii. ro, II, v. 23, xi. 4; Zeph. i. 3), but particularly in later times "wicked" was used of the heathen nations and "righteous" of Israel. The anti­thesis is taken in the latter sense here by those who consider vv. ~-4 to refer to heathen oppressions, cf. v. 13.

wrong jud.,rment proceedetk] As R.V.: therefore judgment goeth forth perverted, i.e. "right," the good cause of the righteous, fails to prevail.

&--11, THE ANSWER OF GOD TO THE PROPHET'S COMPLAINT,

The wrongs complained of will bring their punishment. The Lord raiseth up the Chaldeans, a bitter and hasty nation. They are irresistible; they laugh at kings, and fortresses they heap up dust and take.

5-2

68 HABAKKUK, I.

s Behold ye among the heathen, and regard, and wonder marvellously :

For I will work a work in your days, Which ye will not believe, though it be told you.

6 For lo, I raise up the Chaldeans, that bitter and hasty nation,

Which shall march through the breadth of the land, To possess the dwelling places that are not theirs.

7 They are terrible and dreadful : Their judgment and their dignity shall proceed of them­

selves.

5. behold ye among the heathen] among the na.tions. For "among the nations" Sept. read "ye despisers" (bgdm for bgym), and part of the phrase " wonder marvellously " they translated " and perish." With this translation the "despisers" addressed are the wrongdoers of vv. 1-4.

I will work a work] R.V. marg. one worketh a work, a construction equivalent to the pass., a work is wrought; Is. xxi. 11 "one calleth unto me out of Seir." This is not very natural. Though the omission of pron. "I" is perhaps without parallel, A. V. is more probable. So Sept. The rendering he worketh wonld be more according to usage, but the connexion with v. 6 is then broken.

ye will not beHeve] Perhaps: ye would not believe though it were told you, i.e. in other circumstances-unless you saw it.

6. raise up the Cha/deans] The reference in "raise up" can hardly be to the first entrance of the Chaldeans upon the stage of history; it is rather to their advance against Israel. Some MSS. of Sept. add "against you." On Chaldeans see after v. u.

bitter and hasty nation] Spoken of temper or disposition "hitter" is vehement and passionate, J ud. xviii. '25 ; '2 Sam. xvii. 8 ; and " hasty" is sudden in action, driven headlong by violent impulse.

shall marck ... the land] which marcheth through the breadth of the earth. His operations extend over the world, and his object is conquest, to seize for a possession the dwelling-places of other peoples. Job xviii. '2l; Jer. ix. 19, xxx. 18; Is. xxxii. 18. The phrase "that are not his" again eh. ii. 6; cf. Deut. vi. 10, 11.

7. terrible and dreadful] The first word occurs again only Song vi. 4, 10 "terrible as an army with banners." The noun is frequently used of the terror inspired by the sight of an object, Job xxxix. zo, xii. 14; of the terror caused by the manifestation of the Almighty, Joh ix. 34, xiii. '2 r, and of the terrors of death, Ps. lv. 4. The second word is that usually rendered "terrible" in A. V., meaning, to be feared.

'Tkeir judgmmt and their dignity] from himself proceedeth his Judg­ment and his dignity. The words carry on the idea of "terrible and dreadful," and describe the Chaldean's manner of bearing himself among the nations, though it may be uncertain whether "his judgment" be

vv. 8, 9.J HABAKKUK, I.

Their horses also are swifter than the leopards, And are more fierce than the evening wolves : And their horsemen shall spread themselves, And their horsemen shall come from far ; They shall fly as the eagle that hasteth to eat. They shall come all for violence : Their faces shall sup up as the east wind,

6g

that which regulates his own conduct or that which he imposes on the nations. The former sense is the more vigorous. The Chaldean's own sense of himself corresponds to the dread he inspires. He is imperious and autocratic, allows no considerations from without to modify his action, his own haughty mind alone determines his procedure. Similarly his "dignity" or majesty is the supremacy and sovereignty which he assumes and exercises.

8. swifter tkan tke leopards] Jer, iv. 13 says, "his horses are swifter than eagles."

more.fierce tkan the evening wolves] lit. more skarp. Being parallel to "swift" the term "fierce" probably means keen in attack, eager in flinging themselves on the foe. Gesenius quotes Virg. Georg. 3. z64, genus acre luporum, and ./Ell. 4. 156, acri gaudet equo. The wolf attacks at night when his hunger is keen. For, "evening wolve~," Sept. reads "wolves of Arabia," supplying different vowels.

tkeir horsemen shall spread themselves] and his horsemen bound, or, gallop. The word is used of the springing or bounding of cattle, Mai. iv. 2 (Heh. iii. 20); Jer. I. 11.

horsemen shall come from far] his horsemen come. But the repeti­tion of "horsemen" is unnatural (Sept. omits), and the clause introduces an unequal number of members into the verse. Possibly the words are a marginal explanation of the somewhat uncommon term "gallop."

They shall fly as the eagle] they fl.y. The word eagle refers possibly to some kind of vulture; cf. Mic. i. 16 "enlarge thy baldness like the eagle."

that hasteth to eat] i.e. that swoops upon the prey or carcase. 9. they shall come] they come all of them for violence. To rob and

harry is their object. Tkeir faces shall sup up] R. V. paraphrastically: their faces are set

eagerly as tlte east wind. The clause is obscure in sense, and in all like• lihood the text is faulty. Two tentative senses have been suggested: (1) the word rendered in A.V. "sup up" has been connected with the term used of the war-horse, Job xxxix. 24, he swalloweth the ground, i.e. appears to do so in his eagerness and swiftness; cf. Gen. xxiv. 17, "Let me drink" (the same word). From this sense of swallowing or gulping up might come the more general one of straining or striving after (as in Neo-Heb.), giving some such sense as the striving of their faces is &c. Such a meaning is rather indefinite and flat, and the form of word is not easy to connect with that used in Job xxxix. 24.

8

9

HABAKKUK, 1.

And they shall gather the captivity as the sand. ,o And they shall scoff at the kings,

And the princes shall be a scorn unto them : They shall deride every strong hold; For they shall heap dust, and take it.

[vv. to, tr.

n Then shall his mind change, and he shall pass over, and offend,

Imputing this his power unto his god.

(z) Others, as Gesen., would connect with the Arab. word signifying a crowd, assemblage, and render: the mass, crowd, of their faces.

as the east wind] The term properly means eastward, but as the spectator when reckoning the quarters of the heavens faced the east, it is supposed that eastwards became equivalent to for-dlanls or onwards. The whole clause would mean: the striving (or, the crowd) of their faces is forwards; the impetuosity and rapidity of their movement being indicated. Such a sense is rather lame, even if it could be legitimately reached.

shall gather the captivity] and they ga.ther captives like the sand. The sand is innumerable, Gen. xxii. 17, xii. 49; z Sam. xvii. r ,.

10. shall scqff at the kings] he scolfeth at kings. The Chaldean is referred to. All the verbs in the verse should be in the present: are a scorn, he derideth, he heapeth up.

shall heap dust] he heapeth up. The phrase refers to the dykes or "mounts" which the besiegers cast up in order to be on a level with the walls of the besieged fortress and command them, z Sam. xx. 15; Jer. xxxii. 24. The ease and rapidity of the Chaldean operations is forcibly expressed. Nothing can withstand their impetuosity. Kings with their armies who might oppose them, and fortresses which might arrest their progress, they laugh at.

11. Then shall his mind change] then he sweepeth onward as the wind (or, a blast), and passeth through. The two words "sweep on" and "pass through" occur again Is. viii. 8, being said of the Assyrian armies under the figure of an overwhelming flood. But both words are used of wind-storms, the first Is. xxi. 1, and the second Prov. x. z5. Arrested for a moment by the fortress, as soon as it is fallen he sweeps onwards, and overruns what lies still before him. The "wind" and "spirit" being the same word in Heh., A.V. rendered mind.

and offend] and becometh guilty. The rhythm of the verse would place this word in the second clause, but the sense is against this position.

Imputing this his power] Rather, this his might becometh his god. The Heh. word "this" is as in Ps. xii. 7; the form is oftener a relative, and so R.V., even he whose might is his god. The clause perhaps explains how he "becomes guilty," or offends. His success intoxicates him, and in his pride of heart he deifies his own might. Comp. the words of the Assyrian king Is. x. 7 ff., 13 ff., and those of Nebu­chadnezzar, Dan. iv. 30. For "offends" Wellh. suggests tentatively

v. 12] HABAKKU K, I. 71

Art thou not from everlasting, ,,. 0 LORD my God, mine Holy One? we shall not die.

a form of the verb to set or make: and maketh this kis might to be his god. This restores the rhythm, but the order of words is strange. The text is not above suspicion.

The Chaldeans (Heh. Kasdtm), in the Assyrian inscriptions Kaldu, were properly neither Assyrians nor Babylonians, though no doubt like them a Shemitic people. Their seats were in the southmost parts of the Babylonian plain, towards and on the Persian Gulf. Here they formed a number of small states, one of which was Bit Y akin, the kingdom of Merodach Baladan, which lay on the coast and is called in inscriptions "the land of the sea." If the Shemites penetrated into the plains of the two rivers from the north, the Chaldeans must have formed the van­guard of the immigration and been thrown into the furthest south by the successive waves of population that followed them; if they entered from the south or south-west the Chaldeans would be the latest to arrive. This is most probable, for the movement appears always to have been northward, and the steady aim of the Chaldeans was to gain possession of the country lying to the north of their abode and seat themselves upon the throne of Babylon. This their princes succeeded in doing more than once. Merodach Baladan, who gave trouble to three Assyrian monarchs, Tiglath-Pileser, Sargon and Sennacherib, appears to have occupied the throne of Babylon from B.c. 71.1 to 709, when after a war with Sargon he was dispossessed. The indefatigable veteran renewed the struggle for the crown of Babylon in the time of Senna­cherib, but without success, and disappears from history, though his descendants are spoken of in the annals of the succeeding Assyrian kings. The Chaldean states allied themselves with Shamash-shum­ukin, the Babylonian viceroy, in his revolt against his brother Assur­banipal, but were severely chastised by the Assyrian king and overrun by his armies (see Introd. to Nahum, § 2). Finally, on the death of Assurbanipal (cir. 626), the Chaldean Nabopolassar, taking advantage of the weakness of Assyria, succeeded, by what steps is unknown, iu placing the crown of Babylon on his head, and transmitting it to his descendants. The Chaldean empire of Babylon dates from the usurpa­tion of Nabopolassar (B.c. 6z5), though it was his son Nebuchadnezzar (605 ), the greatest ruler of the East, to whom its splendour was due. Nebuchadnezzar was succeeded by several princes of feeble character, the last of whom was Nabonidus (Nabuna'id), in whose reign the empire fell before the attack of the Medes and Persians under Cyrus (B.c. 538), having lasted less than a century, and with its fall the empire of the East passed from the Shemites io a people of the Aryan race.

12-1'1'. REMONSTRANCE OF THE PROPHET WITH Goo, THE RIGHTEOUS RULER OF THE WORLD, OVER THE CRUELTIES AND INHUMANITY OF THE CHALDEANS.

12. The words down to "die" must form two lines and cannot be divided at "Holy One." Most naturally thus:

HABAKKUK, I. ( V, IJ.

0 LORD, thou hast ordained them for judgment ; And, 0 mighty God, thou hast established them for correc­

tion. , 3 Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil,

Art not thou from everlasting, 0 Jehovah! My God, mine Holy One, we shall not die!

Others make the division at "my God." The word "everlasting" again Deut. xxxiii. ?.7• The eternity of their God is often a ground of con­fidence to Israel; Is. xl. z8, "an everlasting Gad is Jehovah, he fainteth not neither is weary." Cf. Ps. xc. z, "from everlasting to everlasting thou art God."

we sltall not die] This is said half in supplication, half in assurance; Ps, cxviii. 17; cf. r Sam. xx. 14. Comp. the assurance "shall live" eh. ii. 4. The accumulation of divine names shews the earnestness and importunity of the prophet. According to Jewish tradition "we shall not die" is a tiMun (emendation) of the "scribes" for tltou sltalt not die (diest not). Opinions differ as to who the "scribes" are. Some consider that the original authors are meant, in which case the tikkun would be a second thought of the writer. What occurred to hiii. to say first was "thou diest not," but reverence restrained him from bringing the ideas of death and God together, and he said "we shall not die." We are not informed how this interesting process in the prophet's mind became known to after-times. Obviously this is not the real account of the matter, which is not easy to give. No doubt, however, these so-called emendations-there are eighteen of them-were either (r) real corrections by the scribes, i.e. copyists or editors of the sacred books; or ( 2) they are no emendations at all, but the original text; the supposed readings which they are said to have supplanted being mere fancies of Jewish scholars as to what might have been written. Possibly they are partly of the one class and partly of the other. In the present passage Sept. agrees with Heb., but in another, Job vii. 20, it exhibits the supposed original reading: "I am become a burden unto Tltee" (Heb. unto myself).

01·dained them for judgment] lit. ltim, i.e. the Chaldean. The prophet proceeds in the same tone of half prayer, half confidence, struck in "we shall not die," explaining to himself and venturing to suggest before God what must be the meaning of the Chaldean's supremacy and oppression-he is not meant to cause Israel to perish, only to execute God's temporary judgment upon it. Ewald takes the other possible view, viz. that it is the Chaldean himself who is appointed to be judged and receive punishment. This view is less natural in the connexion.

0 mighty God ... correction] and O Rock thou ha.at appointed him for correction-to be the instrument of chastising Israel. The term Rock is used of God, Deut. xxxii. 4, 18, 30, 31; I Sam. ii. :z, :z Sam. xxii. 31, xxiii. 3; cf. Gen. xlix. z4.

13. thou art ef purer eyes] lit. 0 tltou of pure eyes so as not (to be

vv. 14-16.] HABAKKUK, I. 73

And canst not look on iniquity : Wherefore lookest thou upon them that deal treacherously, And boldest thy tongue when the wicked devoureth the

man that is more righteous than he ? Arid makest men as the fishes of the sea, 1 4

As the creeping things, that have no ruler over them ? They take up all of them with the angle, rs They catch them in their net, and gather them in their

drag: Therefore they rejoice and are glad. Therefore they sacrifice unto their net, and burn incense r6

unto their drag ;

able) to see evil, and who canst not look upon wrongdoing. Ps. v. 4, 5 "evil cannot dwell with thee."

treacherous{P] Or, ruthlessly, tyrannically. holdest thy tmgue ... devoureth] holdeat thy peace ... swal.loweth up.

Is. xlii. 14, "I have long time holden my peace, I have been still and refrained myself; now &c." Ps. I. 21.

more righteous than he] The "wicked" is the Chaldean conqueror; the "righteous" is generalized to include the other nations, victims of the Chaldean barbarities, though Israel may be specially in the prophet's mind. Bnt in=· 12-17 the prophet speaks out of the heart of man• kind (cf. Nahum, Introd. § 4). The anomaly is that the righteous God, whose nature cannot endure wrong, looks on and is silent over this wrong which is as large as the human race. ·

14. And makest men] and hast made men-the condition is one that has supervened. At the last resort it is Jehovah who is the author of all this inhuman violence. Cf. Job ix. 24, "if not He, who then is it?" It might be that the Chaldeans were set to chastise, but they exceeded all bounds in their inhumanity (Is. xlvii. 6, 7; Zech. i. q, 15), Men under their cruel rapacity ceased to be men, the very humanity in them was disregarded, and the brutal conqueror in his pride treated them like the lower creatures.

no ruler over them] This hardly means that the creeping things have no king lo protect them, but rather that, as the lowest creatures that have life, they have no higher instincts, no organization, they are a mere swarming disorder, and to this condition do the conquerors reduce mankind. Prov. vi. 7, xxx. 1,7,

15. They take up ... angle] He taketh up ... with the hook; he sweepeth them into (or, with) his net.

they rqoice] he rejoiceth and e:z:ulteth. The Chaldean is compared to th_e fisher, who rejoices over the successful haul of his net. He drags men aµd nations indiscriminately into his power, and is <lead to all their higher sensibilities and all that is human in them.

16, they sacn)ice unto their net] he eacrifl.ceth. The figure of" net" and "drag" was suggested by the idea that men were reduced to the

74 HABAKKUK, I. II. [vv. 17; 1.

Because by them their portion is fat, and their meat plenteous.

1 1 Shall they therefore empty their net, And not spare continually to slay the nations?

2 I will stand upon my watch, and set me upon the tower, And will watch to see what he will say unto me, And what I shall answer when I am reproved.

level of fishes and creeping things. The net represents the means and instruments employed by the conqueror, or that by which he subdues men. This might be more generally his prowess (v. I 1), or more particularly his weapons. Herod. iv. 6-2 records that the Scythians offered a yearly sacrifice of sheep and horses to the scimitar as the symbol of Mars. It may be doubted if the prophet had any knowledge of this or if his idea is so precise. The next clause "for by them his portion is fat" might suggest that his weapons were meant; but if so his "sacrificing" to them is probably not to be taken literally. He deifies his weapons, or, if v. 1 r be followed, the might that wields them.

17, A despairing question and appeal to Heaven. Shall they ... their net] Shall he ... his net?

CHAP. II. 1-4. LIKE A WATCHMAN THE PROPHET LOOKS OUT FOR AN

ANSWER FROM HEAVEN TO HIS PLEA.

The prophet's plea or ar,gument is finished. The plea is that expressed in i. 12-17. And like a watchman looking forth from his watch-tower he will look out to see what answer he shall receive to it from Heaven (v. 1). He is commanded to write the answer when it is given on tablets, that all may read it easily (vv. 2, 3). It comes in the shape of a moral distinction; "His soul is puffed up in him; but the righteous shall live by his faithfulness.'' The distinction carries in it its final verification in events, though this may not come at once (v. 4).

1. stand upon my watch] i.e. I will take my stand upon my place of watching (Is. xxi. 8; z Chr. vii. 6), parallel to "and set me on a tower.'' The language appears to be figurative; it is scarcely likely, though possible, that the prophet had some elevated place to which he retired to await a prophetic vision. But as a watchman looks out from his watch-tower into the distance (2 Sam. xviii, 24; z Kings ix. 17), the prophet will look out for the answer or message from Heaven (Is. xxi. 8, u).

will watch ta see] or, will look forth to see, as R.V. shall answer when I am reproved] wha.i a.nswer I shall bring to my

plea.. His plea or argument is the whole scope of the preceding chapter, or at least of eh. i. 12-17, Comp. Job xiii. 6 "hear now my plea" (R.V. reasoning). Syr. reads: what answer He will give, and so

VV, 2--4,] HABAKKUK, II. 75

And the LoRD answered me, and said, 2

Write the vision, and make it plain upon tables, That he may run that readeth it. For the vision ts yet for an appointed time, 3

But at the end it shall speak, and not lie : Though it tarry, wait for it; Because it will surely come, it will not tarry. Behold, his soul which is lifted up is not upright m 4

him: But the just shall live by his faith.

many scholars. The reading gives a closer parallel to the preceding clause, but does not seem necessary; comp. Judg. v. 29 "she answered {same term as here) her own words." Of course the answer is an inner one which the prophet shall be enabled to make to himself and his plea, hence it is called a vision (v. 2).

2. upon tables] upon the tablets. The art. refers either to the customary use of such tablets for public notices (Is. viii. r ), or to the tablets to be taken in this case for the purpose.

he may run that readeth] The words explain the command to make it plain, and mean that the reader may run on in his reading without being hindered by any obscurity or unwontedness in the writing. Cf. Is •. viii. 1, R.V. margin.

3. Verse 3 further explains the reason both for writing the vision and for writing it plainly. The vision bears upon the future and must be preserved; also, it is of common interest to all, learned or un­learned, and the speedy understanding of it will quiet minds that are perplexed.

an appointed time] Perhaps: the appointed time. The vision bears upon the future determined time. Cf. Dan. viii. 19, 26, x. 14, xi. 2 7, 35·

at the end it shall speak] Rather: and it hasteth (lit. panteth) toward the end. The vision, as the word of God (Is. Iv. 10, 11), has an energy and life of its own, and it strains toward the end, though the "end" here is not its own fulfilment, but the determined future time. 2 Pet. ii. 3.

and not lie] and lt shall not lie, i.e. prove or be found false, deceive.

it will not tarry] will not fail, or, be late, beyond the appointed time. 2 Sam. xx. 5; Judg. v. -:18.

4. Verse 4 gives the contents of the vision. The present text reads:

Behold his soul is puffed up, it is not upright in him; But the righteous shall live by his faithfulness.

The term "puffed up" is perhaps properly said of ground, and means to be uneven, to have swelling heights, and when applied to the mind to swell, be puffed up or arrogant. The opposite idea is "upright,"

HABAKKUK, II.

s Yea also, because he transgresseth by wine, He is a proud man, neither keepeth at home,

[v. 5.

properly even, without ruggedness or heights (Is. xl. 3, 4). Cf. Prov. xxx. 32; Ps. cxxxi. 2.

Instead of "is puffed up" the parallelism of the verse would naturally require a noun as subject, opposed to "the righteous" of next clause: Behold the ... , his soul is not upright in him, but the righteous &c. No acceptable suggestion has been made. The Sept. took the clause as a conditional, if he draw back; reading also my soul for his soul.

The term "faithfulness" is used in the sense of physical steadiness or firmness, as Ex. xvii. n of the hands of Moses (cf. Is. xxxiii. 6); then in the sense of trueness, e.g. as opposed to falsehood or lies in speech, Jer. v. 3, vii. 28; and as equivalent to trustworthiness, honesty in conduct, 2 Kings xii. 15, 16. The word is often coupled with "righteous­ness," as 1 Sam. xxvi. 23; Is. !ix. 4; J er. v. 1. In Is. xi. 5 it is said of the Messiah: "righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins, and faith­fulness the girdle of his reins." So far as the expression is used of men it appears to mean integrity of character and conduct, and differs little from righteousness. Such a character has in it the principle of per­manence, while the Chaldean, whose soul is not upright in him, shall perish. Comp. Prov. x. 25, "when the whirlwind passeth the wicked is no more, but the righteous is an everlasting foundation" (x. 2 ). Sept. rendered "faith," and read in this way the passage became the text for St Paul's doctrine offaith. The Heh. language has no word for "faith" as an active principle, though the term "believe" is derived from the same root as the present word. The situation here is similar to that described in Is. viii. 17, "Bind up the testimony ... and I will wait for Jehovah, who hideth his face from the house of Jacob, and I will look for him "; cf. here v. 3 "though it tarry wait for it."

5. Yea also ... transgresseth by wine] A.V. is hardly a rendering of the text. R. V. renders: yea, moreover, wine is a treackerous dealer, a kaughty man, and that keepeth not at home; who mlargith his desire as hell. Such phraseology has little m,;aning. Any reference to Chaldean debaucheries, openly expressed by A.V. and apparently insinuated by R.V., is farfetched in the extreme and has no probability. The text cannot be right; the word "wine" does not appear either in Sept. or Syr., and the word rendered "keepeth at home" is unknown.

The term rendered by R.V. "treacherous (barbarous) dealer" is that applied to the Chaldean, eh. i. 13, and it would be more natural to take the "ruthless dealer" as the subject of the statement here, and to suppose that what is said of him is that he is insatiable, in agreement with the second half of the verse. The Syr. contents itself with ex­pressing this general sense : an arrogant and greedy man is not satiated (insatiable). There is some corruption in the word "wine," which should express the predicate; yea, moreover ... is the treacherous dealer.

He is a proud man, neither keepeth at home] The term "proud" occurs Prov. xxi. 24, "The proud and haughty man, scorner is his

v. 6.) HABAKKUK, II.

Who enlargeth his desire as hell, And is as death; and cannot be satisfied, But_ gathereth unto him all nations, And heapeth unto him all people : Shall not all these take up a parable against him,

77

name." The verb "keepeth at home" is found nowhere else; a noun in the sense of pasture, homestead, is not uncommon, and the verb if it existed might (after Arab.) mean to find a home, or resting•place­possibly even to be quiet or rest Uob xx. 20). The whole would then read: yea, moreover ... is the treacherous dealer, a man that is proud and resteth not; who enlargeth. For "resteth not" (yinwek) Wellh. sug• gests "is not satisfied" (yirweh). The latter word properly means to drink to satiety, as the thirsty does water, and as the sword does blood Uer. xlvi. 10). When Ibn A!Jmar sings of his camel: "She says, when I have raised the saddle upon her, Will Ibn Al]mar be supplied with drink and never satisfy his thirst (yarwa) from me?" the beast refers to her sweat. If the word "wine" were retained a slight change in the Heh. text might produce a comparison: Moreover, like wine is the treacherous dealer, a man that is proud and restless (insatiable); who enlargeth :-the comparison "like wine" indicating the conduct and demeanour that wine produces. But all efforts to educe sense must fail with the present text.

enlargeth his desire as hell] who openeth wide his maw like Sheol. Sheol, the place of the dead, is insatiable. Is. v. 14; Prov. xxvii. 20, "Sheol and Abaddon are never satisfied," cf. xxx. 16. "Death" like Sheol is personified.

heapeth unto him all people] all peoples. He swalloweth down all nations like Sheol.

6-20. FIVE WOES PRONOUNCED AGAINST THE CHALDEAN FROM THE MOUTH OF THE NATIONS WHOM HE HAS DESOLATED.

Verse 5 does not belong to the vision v. 4, but forms the transition to the taunting proverb taken up against the Chaldean by the nations. This proverb is in the form of a prophecy in which woes are pronounced on the lust of conquest, rapacity, selfish pride and idolatry of the people, and their ruin is predicted, for their vices carry in them their own recom­pense. The woes are five in number, beginning with verses 6, 9, 12, 15, and 18. Though the nations take up the woes, as the passage proceeds the prophet himself appears to speak.

6-8. FIRST WOE: THE CHALDEAN LUST OF CONQUEST.

6. Shall not all these] i.e. all the nations whom he has drawn into his net, and heaped together as his own possession.

take"up a parable] The word may mean originally a saying containing a comparison or similitude ; in a wider sense, a figurative speech or song. For the phrase "take up a parable" cf. Numb. xxiii. 7, 18; Job xxvii. 1.

6

HABAKKU K, II. [vv. 7, 8.

And a taunting proverb against him, and say,

Woe to him that increaseth that which i's not his! how long?

And to him that ladeth himself with thick clay t 1 Shall they not rise up suddenly that shall bite thee,

And awake that shall vex thee, And thou shalt be for booties unto them?

s Because thou hast spoiled many nations, All the remnant of the people shall spoil thee ; Because of men's blood, and for the violence of the land, O/the city, and ef all that dwell therein.

taunting proverb against him] Or, in regard to him. Taunting proverb is lit. an enigma, riddles, Prov. i. 6; Ps. xlix. 4; Dan. viii. 23. Both words suggest a song or poem with concealed taunting allusions.

increasetk that which is not kis] The reference is to his insatiable lust of conquest and robbery of the nations.

tkat laddk kimsdf witk tkick clay] and that ladeth himself with pledges. That which he compels the nations to give him or takes from them by force is compared to pledges which he heaps up upon himself. The day will come when their restitution shall be exacted of him. Job xx. 10, 15, 20. The rendering "thick clay" is obtained by taking the word "pledges" as a compound; cf. Ex. xix. 9, tkick cloud.

'1. tkat shall bite tkee] Such is the usual sense of the word, which is used of the serpent, Gen. xlix. 17; Numb. xxi. 8, 9; cf. Mic. iii. 5. The term is employed here in a figurative sense of the attack of enemies. In one form the verb means to exact usury from one, Dent. xxiii. ,;io, and some would render here tky creditors. This double sense is sup­posed by some to be one of the taunting allusions (v. 6).

shall vex tkee] Or, violently shake thee. Eccles. xii. 3; Esth. v. 9; cf. Dan. v. 19, vi. 27; Dent. xxviii. 25; Is. xxviii. 19.

8. remnant of tke people] the peoples, The most natural meaning is, all the other peoples in contrast with the Chaldean : the nations shall make common cause against him and spoil their spoiler. Others consider that reference is made to the desolating wars of the Chaldeans which have reduced the inhabitants of the world to a "remnant." This is less natural. Altogether unacceptable is the view that the remnant or rest of the nations are those nations whom the Chaldean did not spoil, for in v. 5 he is said to have gathered to him all nations.

violence of tke land] violence done to the earth, Jer. I. 23, Ii. 7, 15. The term "city" is collective, cities. Bloodshed of men, desolation of the earth, which also is sentient and moral (Is. xiv. 7, xiv. 18), and burning of cities-these are the things for which nemesis awaits the Chaldean. The like shall be done unto him-he shall be spoiled, his

vv. 9-n.] HABAKKUK, II. 79

Woe to him that coveteth an evil covetousness to his house, 9

That he may set his nest on high, that he may be delivered from the power of evil !

Thou hast consulted shame to thy house ,o By cutting off many people, And hast sinned against thy soul. For the stone shall cry out of the wall, u And the beam out of the timber shall answer it.

proud cities burned in the fire (v. r3), and his glory covered with shame (v. r6). This refrain recurs v. 17.

9-11. SECOND WOE: THE CHALDEAN'S RAPACITY AND SELF-AGGRANDISEMENT.

9, covdetk an evil covetousness] ga.ineth evil gains for bis house. His "house" is his family or dynasty, or, if the Chaldean represent the nation, his people.

set kis nest on k,ghJ A figure from the eagle or other birds that build in inaccessible places. He sought evil gains for the purpose of fortifying his abode and making it unassailable. Numb. xxiv. zr; Jer. xlix. 16; Obad. 4.

power ef evi!J lit. hand of evil, i.e. calamity from assailants. The "evil" is not present but eventual and possible.

10, consulted shame to tky kouse] The next words explain that what he consulted or purposed was to cut off many nations; but this purpose shall tum out to be to the confusion of his house; Jer. vii. 19. As the Assyrian was sent against an ungodly nation, so the Chaldean was appointed for chastisement, but neither of them understood the limits of his commission: ~• he thinketh not so, but it is in his heart to destroy and cut off nations not a few," Is. x. 7.

By cutting '!if many people] Or, to cut eff. The text is not quite assured, the Versions render: thou hast cut eff. Cf. 2 Kings x. 32.

And hast sinned] Or, whilst thou sinnest against thine own life. In his purpose to cut off mar,y peoples and the execution of it he sins to the endangering or rather to the forfeiture of his own life. Comp. Is. x. 11-r9, and particularly Is. xiv. 20. The construction and form of sentence are both unusual, cf. Prov. viii. 36, xx. z, and Ps. vii. 10,

Iv. zo (A.V. vii. 9, lv. r9}. 11. stone shall cry out of the wall] For the stone out of the wan

shall cry out. The Chaldean gains evil gains to build his nest on high ; the materials he uses, the stones and wood, shall cry out against the wrong and oppression perpetrated in procuring them. This sense is preferable to that assumed by Hitzig, that in his constructions the Chaldean kept back the hire of the labourers (Jer. xxii. 13).

beam ... answer it] i. e. reecho its cry of injustice.

80 HABAKKUK, II.

u Woe to him that buildeth a town with blood, And stablisheth a city by iniquity!

13 Behold, i's z't not of the LORD of hosts That the people shall labour in the very fire,

[vv. 12-1s,

And the people shall weary themselves for very vanity? 1 4 For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory

of the LORD, As the waters cover the sea.

•s Woe unto him that giveth his neighbour drink,

12-14. THIRD WOE: HIS OPPRESSION OF THE PEOPLES TO GRATIFY HIS ARCHITECTURAL PRIDE.

12. buildetk a town witk bloo,lj The meaning appears to be that the means of building the city are acquired through bloodshed, conquest and slaughter of the nations, and deportation of them to be employed in forced labour. Comp. Mic. iii. 10, "They build up Zion with blood," i.e. by the goods of those slain by judicial murder (1 Kings xxi.).

by iniquity] Cf. Jer. xxii. I 3, where the iniquity consists in the forced labour; here it may be more general. The terms "town" and "city" refer to any city or to many. Is. xiv. 21.

13. people ... in the very fire] peoples shall labour for the tl.re. Those great cities of the heathen world on which the peoples labour are destined to become the prey of the fire.

peop!e .. for very vaniry] the nations shall weary themselves for vanity, or, for nought, in vain. The great buildings on whose con­struction the nations exhaust themselves are doomed to annihilation. This is the decree of the Lord of Hosts, The words with some difference occur again, J er. Ii. 58, with special reference to Babylon. The passage is scarcely a quotation from J er., neither do the words, Behold, is it not, &c., imply that it is a quotation from some other source. Cf. 2 Chron. xxv. 26, where the peculiar phrase occurs again.

14. As tke wate,-s cover] Or, like the waters which cover the (bed of the) sea. The knowledge shall be not only universal but deep. Is. xi. 9. The verse explains the preceding. The Lord of Hosts, God Omnipotent, whose purposes overrule all, shall bring in His kingdom, and in the judgments that precede its coming the great fabrics reared by heathenism for its idolatries and its oppressions shall become fuel for the fire (Is. ix. 5). This is the line of thought most natural. Another might be that when the reign of peace in Jehovah's kingdom shall come in men themselves shall burn to the ground their strongholds of war and their edifices of pride, just as they shall beat their swords to ploughshares (Is. ii. 4).

15-l'l. FOURTH WOE: HIS CONTEMPTUOUS HUMILIATION OF l'ROSTRATE POTENTATES AND NATIONS,

15. The helplessness of the nations before the power or the craft of

vv. 16, 17.] HABAKKUK, II. 81

That puttest thy bottle to him, and makest him drunken also,

That thou mayest look on their nakedness ! Thou art filled with shame for glory : 16

Drink thou also, and let thy foreskin be uncovered: The cup of the LoRn's right hand shall be turned unto

thee, And shameful. spuing shall be on thy glory. For the violence of Lebanon shall cover thee, •1

the Chaldean and his contemptuous treatment of them when subject to him is represented under the figure of giving one to drink to intoxi­cation and then making brutal merriment over the exposure of his nakedness (Gen. ix. 21).

That puttest thy bottle to him] As the text stands the verse reads: Woe to him that giveth kis neighb!JUr drink, mixing therewith (or, adding thereto) thy wrath, and makest him drunken also. The idea would be, not that the wrath was the drink, but only mixed with it or added to it (r Sam. ii. 36; Is. xiv. r). This is not natural. A.V. "bottle" (Gen. xxi. r.;) is in Heb. a word similar to "wrath," and might be read if the vowel points were altered, but its use is quite improbable. The ancient "bottle," being a wine-skin, would not suggest the figure. Wellh. makes the ingenious conjecture that the term "mixing," or adding to, has arisen by accidental repetition of a letter, and that its true sense is" from the cup" (Zech. xii. 2)-Woe to him that giveth his neighbour drink from the cup of his (lit. thy) wrath, and makest him drunken also.

18. filled with shame for glory] with shame and not with glory, the construction as Hos. vi. 6, "mercy and not sacrifices," cf. Ps. Iii. 3. The term "art filled" or sated must have the meaning : "thou hast feasted thyself on shame," i.e. on the shame of his victims, or more generally, on that which is shameful, rather than on what is decorous and honourable. Such a sense seems nowhere else expressed by the verb to be sated. The text may be uncertain.

cup ... turned unto thee] Lam. iv. 21; Jer. xxv. 15, li. 7; Is. Ii. 17. shameful spuing] Or, as R. V., foul shame. The word, like "thick

clay" (v. 6), has been taken as two words: spuing of shame, with the sense of A.V. It is no doubt an intensive form of the word shame.

1'1. violence of Lebanon] i.e. done to Lebanon. Lebanon is not a figure for the holy land, but used literally. Both Assyrians and Baby­lonians transported wood from Lebanon for their temples and other edifices. It is possible that their cutting down of wood may have been wanton, and perhaps the use of the cedars by the Chaldean in any form may have been considered desecration. Comp. Is. xiv. 8.

shall cover thee] Obad. 10; Jer. iii. 25. In Obad. 10 shame covers the Edomites because of the violence; here the violence itself covers. The violence carries shame, its recompense, in itself.

N, H, Z, 6

82 HABAKKU K, II. [vv. 18, Ig.

And the spoil of beasts, which made them afraid, Because of men's blood, and for the violence of the land, Of the city, and of all that dwell therein;

18 What profiteth the graven image that the maker thereof hath graven it;

The molten image, and a teacher of lies, That the maker of his work trusteth therein, to make dumb

idols? , 9 Woe unto him that saith to the wood, Awake; to the dumb

stone, Arise, it shall teach! Behold, it is laid over with gold and silver,

spoil ... made them afraid] and the destruction of the beasts shall terrify thee (or, break thee). The ancient versions read thee for them, no doubt rightly. The Chaldeans may have made Lebanon their hunting-ground, and possibly they carried the chase to excess, though "spoil" or destruction does not mean extermination but violent treat­ment. The earth, the woods and the beasts no less than man have rights ; there is nothing that exists which is not moral ; wanton excess on anything recoils on the head of the perpetrator. The ravage and terror carried into the world of creatures shall come back in terror and destruction on the Chaldean. The refrain is as in v. 11.

18-20. FIFTH WOE : THE IRRATIONAL IDOLATRIES OF THE CHALDEAN, Is. xix. r, xxi. 9·

18. What prcfiteth the graven image?] The idea that the idols do not profit, i.e. save or deliver, is often expressed; 1 Sam. xii. u ; Is. xliv. 10; Jer. ii. 8, rr, xvi. 19. Comp. Is. xlvi.; Jer. x.

and a teacher of lies] Here the " teacher" is the idol itself, not its priest or prophet as in Is. ix. I 5, because the priest or prophet only expressed the indications or intimations given by the god. These intimations are called " lies," Zech. x. 2. The term teacher occurs in the name Oak Moreh (Gen. xii. 6), which was probably a "talking oak," in which a deity resided and from which (whether through its rustling or otherwise, cf. 2 Sam. v. 24} oracles were drawn. Deut. xi. 30 ; cf. Judg. ix, 37, the oak of the Meonenim (augurs).

19. Wi,e unto him ... Awake] 1 Kings xviii. 27, "he (Baal) sleepeth and must be awaked." The term is also used of Jehovah when He visibly interposes after apparent inactivity, Ps. lxxviii. 65, xxxv. 23, xliv. 23, !ix. 5. As this verse begins with Woe many propose to place it before v. 18.

it shall teach] Or, shall lt teach! as an exclamation of contempt or wonder at the infatuation of those who consult it. A full stop is to be placed at Arise! Teach is equivalent to, give an answer or oracle when consulted or appealed to. Is. xii. '26, xlvi. 7.

laid over with gold] This is probably the meaning, though the term is obscure. Perhaps : set in gold.

v. 20.] HABAKKUK, Il

And there is no breath at all in the midst of it. But the LoRn is in his holy temple: Let all the earth keep silence before him.

there is no breath] Ps. cxxxv. 17; Jer. x. 14, c£ Ii. 17. SO. The verse expresses the contrast between the idols and Jehovah.

Is. xlvi. holy temple] i.e. the heavenly temple as in Ps. xi. 4. And "he who

sitteth in heaven " is living and all powerful, watchful of the affairs of men (Ps. xi. 4), into which He may throw Himself at any moment (Ps. ii. 12).

Let all the earth keep silence] The expression occurs again Zeph. i. 7 ; Zech. ii. r 3. In the former passage reference is to the manifestation of Jehovah in "the day of the Lord," the final judgment upon the earth, and in the other a similar idea appears to be expressed. The sense of the present passage is probably the same: the silence is that of ex­pectancy and dread before the Revelation of the Lord.

CHAP. III. Ch. iii. is a brilliant description of a Theophany or manifestation of

Jehovah for the redemption of His people. The dark background of Israel's redemption is formed by the destruction of its enemies. The poem is based on earlier models, such as Deut. xxxiii.; Judg. v., and it is not easy to say whether the poet be describing a future Theophany and deliverance in colours drawn from the great historical redemption of the Exodus, or be actually describing the first deliverance as the type of that which is future and for which he prays (iii. 1). The words of A.V. I have heard thy speech (v. 1) ought to be, I have heard the report of thee; and according to the usage of the language report of thee refers to God's "work," His great deeds done in the past, or to what these past deeds reveal Him to be (Numb. xiv. 15). Then the poet prays "renew thy work," that is, renew or repeat in our days the great deeds of old, or, manifest thyself again as in the ancient days. So far as the interpretation of vv. 3-15 is concerned it will be little affected whether these verses be considered to describe the past "work" or to refer to the future one. In the one case the poet would pray: "renew thy work," and then go on to describe in vv. 3-15 that ancient work which he desired to see renewed; in the other he would pray: "renew thy work," and then proceed to describe the renewed work, which was but a repetition of the ancient one. Verses 13-15 are most naturally to be taken as historical, particularly v. 15 "thou hast gone through the sea with thy horses," which appears to refer to the passage of the Red Sea, the last act in the great work of delivering His people and destroy­ing their adversaries. On the other hand the last part of v. 16 appears to express a foreboding of something to come. The clause is very obscure in sense and the text may not be quite assured. But the whole passage is a pra)'&r, The poet prays for the renewal of God's past "work" in the future, though he cannot think of that "work" without

6-2

20

HABAKKUK, III. [vv. 1, 2.

3 A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet upon Shigionoth. a O LoRn,· I have heard thy speech, and was afraid:

0 LORD, revive thy work in the midst of the years,

alarm. Upon the whole it is easiest to read vv. 3-15 as a delineation of the historical "work" of God at the Exodus. And besides being easiest, this way of reading the passage is most in harmony with other passages, e.g. Deut. xxxili,; Ps. lxviii. 7, lxxvii. 15 ff. Judg. v. may be doubtful, but in the age of Habakkuk and later Jehovah would hardly be represented as shining forth anew from Sinai, but rather from Jerusalem (Am. i. 2; Is. !xvi. 6; Ps, lxxx. "'I), or from heaven (Zech. ii. 13).

1-ll. INTRODUCTION,

1. A prayer of Habakkuk] The only part of the passage which is strictly prayer is v. z. But the whole poem is nothing but an amplifi­cation of the words "renew thy work." The earnest direction of the poet's mind towards God, and its absorption and loss of itself in the thought of Him and His operations is a prayer. For this wider idea of prayer cf. 1 Sam. ii. r ; Ps. lxxii. 20. Comp. the title to Ps. xc.

upon Shigionoth] The word is plur. of Shiggaion in the title of Ps. vii. and may mean a wild, tumultuous and ecstatic poem. The word "upon'' in such superscriptions appears to mean "after the mode of," "to the music of" Shigionoth.

9. I have heard thy speech] I ha.ve hea.rd the report of thee. The term appears always to express the report or bruit about one, e.g. Gen. xxix. 13 the news about Jacob, 1 Kings x. 1 about Solomon, Is. xxiii. 5 about Tyre {her downfall); comp. Numb. xiv. 15; Is. !xvi. 19; Nah. iii, 19. It seems also always to refer to something past and actual (unless Hos. vii. 12 be an exception); and this suggests that the allusion is to the divine manifestation at the Exodus.

and was afraid] Or, am afraid. Of course the prophet or the com­munity in whose name he speaks (cf. v. 14) did not fear hurt from the Theophany so long past, but the recital or the thought of it created alarm. Comp. Ex. xiv. 30, 31.

revive thy work] Though filled with fear at the thought of the divine interposition the prophet nevertheless prays for it. The term "revive" might mean to recall or bring back to life that which is dead (Hos. vi. 2), or to call into life and being what does not yet exist (Deut. xxxii. 39; 1 Sam. ii. 6). The "work" of Jehovah is that which He does, any operation which He performs, eh. i. 5; but the word is often used of His great historical acts done for His people, Ps. xliv. 1, xcv. 9; Deut. xi. 7; Jud. ii. 7. The sense is thus either: bring into being a great act of Thine; or, renew, recall into life again, Thy former great work of redemption. The second sense is the more natural, and most in harmony with the following phrase "in the midst of the years."

in the midst efthe years] This cannot mean "within a few years" (Gesen. ), a sense ill-suited to the tone of importunity in the passage; nor "amidst the years of distress," because the idea of distress must

v. 3.J HABAKKUK, III.

In the midst of the years make known ; In wrath remember mercy.

God came from Teman, And the Holy One from mount Paran. Selah.

have been expressed. The expression must describe the poet's own time, for his prayer is for immediate divine interposition. Looking back to the far past event of the Exodus, the many years that. have rolled by since then, he conceives of the position of himself and his people as amidst the years.

midst of the years make known] i.e. at this late time in our history make thy work known. Sept. regarded the verbal form as reflexive: make thyseif(or, let thyself he) known, So Wellh •

.In wrath remember mercy] The" wrath" might be that lying on the people now; but it is more natural to understand it of the wrath which the judge will manifest when He intervenes among men. Comp. Is. xxvi. 20, "Come, 0 my people, enter into thy chambers, hide thyself for a little moment until the indignation be overpast." At the thought or the recital of God's interposition in the past-type of every inter• position of His-the poet trembled; yet he would encounter it for the sake of that which will come after it, and he prays that it may come again; then he prays that in that day of universal wrath he and his people may have mercy shewn them. Rev. iii. ro.

3-15, THE REVELATION OF JEHOVAH.

The passage has three strophes of 5, 4, 4 verses respectively. (1) Description of the Theophany, vv. 3-7. (2) The question, what is its meaning? vv. 8-1 r. (3) Statement of its meaning-it is to save His people, vv. 12-r5.

3-'1. APPROACH AND MANIFESTATION OF JEHOVAH IN THE STORM,

The Theophany is pictured as a great tempest in the heavens in the midst of which God is present. It comes from the south, the region of Paran and Sinai (v. 3 a); there is a terrible splendour around the advancing God, which lightens the heavens and the earth (vv. 3 b, 4); pestilence and fever-glow follow in His wake (v. 5); all nature shudders, the eternal hills sink down (v. 6); the nations and tribes in the desert are dismayed (v. 7).

3. God came from Teman] cometh: the poet feels himself in presence of the manifestation. Teman is a district lying in the north-we,! of Edom, Ezek. xxv. 13; Obad. 9·

the Holy One from mount Paran] Or, the mounta.ins (hill country) of Pa.ran. The "Holy One" is virtually already a proper name (with­out the Art.}, as Is. xl. '25, Paran is the elevated region lying between the wilderness of Kadesh on the north and that of ~inai on the south, west of the Ara bah. If any particular mountain be referred to it may be Jebel Mu~rah, which ha, a height of 2000 feet, and forms the

3

86 HABAKKUK, III.

His glory covered the heavens, And the earth was full of his praise .

.o1 And his brightness was as the light ; He had horns coming out of his hand : And there was the hiding of his power.

s Before him went the pestilence, And burning coals went forth at his feet.

6 He stood, and measured the earth :

[vv. 4-6.

southern boundary of the plateau. At present the region is the seat of the Azazimeh Arabs. The whole region of Sinai, Paran and Edam is regarded as the scene of the divine manifestation; comp. Dent. xxxiii. "Ji Judg. v. 4.

His glory covered] covereth the heavens. The "glory" is the splen­dour of the divine majesty, which overspreads the heavens. Ps. viii. 1,

cxl viii. 13. was full of his praise] the earth is filled with. The term "praise"

has a secondary meaning, viz. that in God which evokes praise or adoration. The meaning is not that praises from men's mouth filled the earth, but that the light of God's glory filled it, just as it overspread the heavens. Is. vi. 3.

4. his brightness was as the light] And there is a brightness like the sun-Job xxxi. 26; Prov. iv. 18. Attention is drawn away from the general splendour which overspread the heavens and filled the earth and concentrated upon the central point of the appearance, which was (appeared as) a brightness like the sun.

He had horns coming out of ht"s hand] he hath rays (coming forth) at his side. The rays of the sun are compared to horns in the East; in Ex. xxxiv. 29, 30, 35 the verb is used of the face of Moses which shot out rays. The rays are probably lightning flashes. The rendering at his side is more probable than the literal out of his hand. So probably Deut. xxxiii. '2 at his right !1and; the rubente dextera jaculatus is less likely in Hebrew. Of course "at his side" means at each side, cf. Ps. I. 3.

there was the hiding] there is the hiding-plaee of His power, i.e. omnipotence, or, the specially divine in the manifestation. • 5. went the pestilence] goeth pestilence. His manifestation carries

death in its train. burning coals went forth] and burning plague goeth forth at his

feet, i.e. behind Him. The word again in this sense Dent. xxxii. 24. 6. stood, and measured] "Measured" could only mean surveyed,

measured with His eyes, and this might be supposed taken up again in '' he looked " of next clause; but the parallelism with the next clause rather requires that tlie effect of His standing or taking His stand should be stated. Possil.,ly the word "measured " has the sense of a similar word used Is. xxiv. 19, he made the earth to rock. Sept. renders in the pass., the earth was shaken. The preceding verses describe the Theophany as seen in heaven, it has not yet touched the earth, though its baleful

v. 7.] HABAKKUK, Ill.

He beheld, and drove asunder the nations ; And the everlasting mountains were scattered, The perpetual hills did bow : His ways are everlasting. I saw the tents of Cushan in affliction :

accompaniments of pestilence and fever-glow are spoken of. Now the tempest in which the Deity is shrouded descends and touches the earth, enfolding the heights within it. " He stood " means He took his stand, He set His foot; 2 Sam. xx. 4; Is. 1. 8; Ezek. xxii. 30. The earth felt His tread and rocked, Mic. i. 3, 4. Or, "stood" might describe an apparent stationariness of the storm-cloud during which it discharged itself, making the earth rock. Cf. Ps. xxix. 4, 5.

He beheld, and drove asunder] He looked, and His look scared the nations into violent commotion. The term means to make one spring up from terror, Job xxxvii. r.

mountains were scattered] Or, do cleave asunder. The sense is scarcely that the hills were scattered from one another, rather that the individual mountains were cleft. Cf. Zech. xiv. 4, " His feet shall stand on the mount of Olives, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof, toward the east and toward the west."

perpetual hills did bow] Or, eternal hills.-Gen. xlix. 26; Deut. xxxiii. i5. Their bowing refers to the sinking and rising motion, as in an earthquake, under the feet of Jehovah in the tempest.

His ways are everlasting] R. V. his goings were as of old. If this sense were adopted it would decide that the previous description referred to a Theophany about to appear, which is compared to the former historical one, the term "going " being equivalent to way. The term "goings" however might be in apposition to" eternal hills," and the meaning be that these hills were Jehovah's eternal pathways--the trailing tempests, in which Jehovah moves, are seen passing over the mountains, and thus these are considered the pathways of the Lord. Cf. Am. iv. 13, "he treadeth upon the high places of the earth"; Mic. i. 3.

The past tenses of A. V. might be retained in the verse, but as the poet feels himself in presence of the imposing phenomenon, it is perhaps better to throw them into the present:

He taketh his stand, and maketh the earth to quake, He looketh, and causeth the nations to tremble; And the everlasting mountains are cleft asunder, The eternal hills do bow ; · Even his pathways from of old.

The last line overloads the parallelism, and in whatever sense it be taken rather drags.

7. tents of Cushan] Cushan here cannot be Cush or Ethiopia in Africa. In Numb. xii. 1 it is said that Moses had married a Cushite wife, though she was a Midianite; and in the next clause here Midian is parallel to Cushan (cf. the name Lotan for Lot, Gen. xxxvi. 29). Cushan and Midian consequently are either names for the same people

7

88 HABAKKUK, III. [vv. 8, 9.

And the curtains of the land of Midian did tremble. s Was the Lo RD displeased against the rivers ?

Was thine anger against the rivers? Was thy wrath against the sea, That thou didst ride upon thine horses and thy chariots of

salvation? 9 Thy bow was made quite naked,

According to the oaths of the tribes, even thy word. Selah.

or for branches of it. This people dwelt in the neighbourhood of Sinai. Mention of the ancient Cushan and Midian suggests that it is the Theo­phany of the Exodus that the poet is describing, though perhaps the inference is not conclusive, as he might suppose the ancient conditions still existing in his day, or even of purpose use archaic names. Present tenses are preferable :

Under affliction I see the tents of Cushan, The curtains of the land of Midian do tremble.

"Cu1·tains," parallel to tents, are the tent hangings.

8-11. Is JEHOVAH'S ANGER AGAINST THE RIVERS AND THE SEA?

The reference to the "sea," which is naturally to be understood as the Red Sea, is in favour of taking the whole passage as a description of the redemption of the Exodus. Jehovah moves in a glorious mani­festation of light from His ancient seats in Paran and Sinai; He directs His movement towards the Red Sea for the delivery of His people. Sea and land are thrown into wild commotion and terror at His appearing, This suggests the prophet's question, Is thine anger against the sea 1

8. Was the LORD displeased?] Perhaps strictly this must be ren­dered : art thou displeased, 0 Lord? lit. is it hot to thee? or, is thine anger hot? All the other verbs would be better in the present : is thine anger ... is thy wrath ... that thou dost ride.

chariots of salvation] Or, of victory, deliverance; lit. thy chariots which are victory, i.e. victorious, used to victory. The "horses" and "chariots" here are the storm-clouds on which Jehovah rides. Ps. xviii. 10; Is. xix. 1; Deut. xxxiii. z6; Ps. lxviii. 33.

9. Thy btnJJ was made quite naked] is made bare. The" bow" is the battle-bow. It is bared of its covering in order to be freely used and to discharge its arrows-a figure for the flashing thunderbolts, or for the missiles with which Jehovah smites the rivers and the sea.

According to the oaths of the tribes] The words down to Se/ah form a riddle which all the ingenuity of scholars has not been able to solve. Delitzsch calculates that a hundred translations of them have been offered. The clause no doubt carries on the previous one, " thy bow is made bare," just as it is taken up by the following one, " thou clea vest the rivers (or, currents) into dryland." What must be described there­fore is the discharge from the naked bow of the shafts which smote the

vv. 10, 11.] HABAKKUK, III. 89

Thou didst cleave the earth with rivers. The mountains saw thee, and they trembled : •0

The overflowing of the water passed by : The deep uttered his voice, And lift up his hands on high. The sun and moon stood still in their habitat10n : u At the light of thine arrows they went, And at the shining of thy glittering spear.

rivers. The word rendered ''tribes" (which have nothing to do here) may mean staves (v. 14), i.e. spears or shafts. The term "oaths" might more naturally be some derivative of the word seven and mean sevens, heptads (so Ewald), sevens of spears, with the meaning that Jehovah's shafts were discharged not singly but in sevens. There still remains the expression word (A. V. even thy word), which is difficult to connect with the preceding. The idea that Jehovah's arrows are really His "word," whereby He rebukes and cleaves the sea, is not very natural. The multiplication of conjectures would serve no purpose.

Thou didst cleave the earth with rivers] The language certainly admits of this sense, but the connexion seems rather to require: thou dost cleave the rivers (or, water-currents} into dryland. Both the words " rivers " and "earth" are in the accus.; and only the connexion can shew which is the direct object and which the more remote (acc. of result).

10. The mountains saw thee, and] the mountains see thee, they tremble. The other verbs in the verse should also be in the present.

The over.flowing of the water] the rai.ufl.ood of waters passeth (dri veth) along. Ch. i. 11 ; the reference is to a rainstorm.

The deep uttered] uttereth. The " deep " (tehiJm, Assyr. tiamat) is properly the primal ocean, subterranean source of the visible sea, but here the latter itself. The reference is probably to the Red Sea; Ps. cvi. 9, "he led them through the depths" ; so Is. !xiii. 13. The roaring of the troubled and smitten sea is described.

lift up his hands] lifteth up. The reference appears to be to the mounting heavenwards of the waves. It is doubtful, however, if uttering its voice and lifting up its hands are meant to express an appeal on the part of the sea for mercy (Ew. }. Comp. Ps. lxxvii. 16.

11. The sun and moon stood stilt] stand still, i.e. do not come forth, being behind the storm-ck,ud. The word possibly means retreat, with• draw into their habitation, hiding themselves from the light of the flying arrows of Jehovah. They are scared and outshone by the terrible bright­ness of His lightnings; cf. Is. xxiv. z3. Sept. joins "lifted np" of preceding verse to this one, making "the sun" the subject. No accept­able sense is given by the Sept., but certainly the balance of the rhythm seems to require a separate predicate to " the sun": the sun ... , the moon withdraws.

At the light of thine arrows they went] at the light of thine arrows as they go. The "arrows" and "spear" both refer to the lightnings,

90 HABAKKUK, III. [vv. 12, IJ.

.. Thou didst march through the land in indignation, Thou didst thresh the heathen in anger.

13 Thou wentest forth for the salvation of thy people, Even for salvation with thine anointed; Thou woundedst the head out of the house of the wicked, By discovering the foundation unto the neck. Selah.

The strophe reads as a whole: 8. Art thou displeased against the rivers, 0 Lord?

Is thine anger against the rivers, Or thy wrath against the sea, That thou dost ride upon thine horses, Upon thy chariots of salvation?

9. Thy bow is made bare • . . Selah.

Thou cleaves! the rivers into dryland. 10. The mountains see thee, they tremble,

The rainfiood of waters passeth on; The deep uttereth his voice, And lifteth up his hands on high.

11. The sun, the moon stand still in their habitation, At the light of thine arrows as they go, At the shining of thy glittering spear.

12-16. THE LORD IS COME FORTH FOR THE SALVATION OF HIS PEOPLE,

The former verses have described the Theophany in itself and in its effects upon nature; now the outpouring of J ehovah's indignation on the foes of His people is described.

12. Thou didst march] In indignation thou ma.rchest through the ea.rth; thou dost thresh the nations 1D anger. As in former times "threshing" was performed by treading (Deut. xxv. 4), the sense is : thou treadest down; 2 Kings xiii. 7 ; Job xxxix. r 5, comp. the figures Is. lxiii. 1-6. The term "march" means to take great steps, to stride.

13. Thou wentest forth] Thou a.rt come forth. for salvation with thine anointed] for the salvation {deliverance)

of thine anointed. The term "anointed" was used properly of the king (1 Sam. xxiv. 6), or of the priest (1 Sam. ii. 35), but in later times it was employed more generally, e.g. of the Patriarchs (Ps. cv. 15), of Cyrus {Is. xiv. 1), and here it appears to designate the people, according to the parallelism with the preceding clause. Comp. Ps. lxxxix. 38, 5 r. In Is. lv. 3-5 the promises made to David are represented as being inherited by the people.

Thou woundedst the head] thou hast shattered, or as R.V. marg. thou hast smitten oir the head from the house.

By discovering the foundation] laying bare the foundation. The "wicked" is the heathen foe of Israel; if the Theophany of the Exodus

vv. 14, 15.] HABAKKUK, III. 91

Thou didst strike through with his staves the head of his •• villages:

They came out as a whirlwind to scatter me: Their rejoicing was as to devour the poor secretly. Thou didst walk through the sea with thine horses, •s Through the heap of great waters.

be described he is either the nation of the Egyptians or Pharaoh. This foe is compared to a house the top of which is smitten away from it, so that it falls to pieces and the foundation is laid bare. Comp. Am. ix. 1,

"Smite the chapiters that the thresholds may shake, and break them to pieces on the head of all of them."

unto the neck] The phrase to discover or lay bare the foundations means to destroy utterly and throw down the structure raised upon the foundations so that these appear (Mic. i. 6). Hence in Ps. cxxxvii. 7 it is said, "Lay bare even unto the foundation." This suggests that "lay bare" was used in the general sense of destroy, rase (as A. V.J. In the present passage the "head" was said to be shattered away from the house, and in this clause it is added that the house from foundation to "neck," i.e. up to the shattered head, was rased. Possibly "rase unto the neck" was a proverbial expression, meaning to rase utterly. Baethgen (Psalmen, p. 414) proposes to read rock (a somewhat similar word) for" neck "-the foundation unto the rock. This circumstantiality is rather trivial; and the proposed reading rests on a misconception of the meaning of the phrase "lay bare the foundation.'

U. Thou didst strike through] Thou hast pierced through with thy spears the head of his warriors. The Heh. text reads his spears or staves, which would mean that the weapons of the enemy were turned against himself. But though the idea is not uncommon (Ezek. xxxviii. u; Zech. xiv. 13; cf. 1 Sam. xiv. zo) that the enemies of God's people shall be thrown into a panic and mutually destroy each other, there is nothing in the present passage to suggest that idea. The term rendered warriors with Vulgate (A. V. villages) does not occur again; Sept. princes.

They came out] Which were come out as a whirlwind. Their r,joicing was] exulting as about to devour the afflicted in

secret places; lit. their exulting was as to devour. The fii:;ui:e is taken from the wild beast who devours his prey in his covert (Ps. x. 7-9, xvii. 12). The enemy exulted or raised a cry of exultation, feeling that their prey, the afflicted, that is the people Israel, was within their grasp. Comp. Ex. xiv. 3, xv. 9, "The enemy said, I will pursne, I will over­take, I will divide the spoil; my desire shall be satisfied upon them ; I will draw my sword, my hand shall destroy them."

16. Thou didst walk through the sea] Thou hast gone through the sea (Is. xi. I 5). The verse refers to the passage of the Red Sea; and the thought remains unexpressed, though it is nnderstood, that with this was completed the destruction of the enemy and the deliverance of the people. The strophe reads as a whole :

92 HABAKKUK, III. [v. 16.

16 When I heard, my belly trembled; _My lips quivered at the voice: Rottenness entered into my bones, and I trembled in

myself, That I might rest in the day of trouble : When he cometh up unto the people, he will invade them

with his troops.

12. In indignation thou marchest through the earth, Thou dost thresh the nations in anger.

lS. Thou art come forth for the salvation of thy people, For the salvation of thine anointed. Thou hast shattered the head from the house of the wicked, Laying bare the foundation unto the neck.

14. Thou hast pierced through with thy spears the head of his warriors, Which were come out as a whirlwind to scatter me, Exulting as about to devour the afflicted in secret places.

15. Thou hast gone through the sea with thy horses, The heap of great waters.

16. Verse 16 returns to v. 2, taking up the words "I heard the report of thee" and " I feared."

When I heard] I heard (or, have heard) and my belly, i.e. heart or inward parts.

My lips quivered at the voice] i.e. the report or voice which he heard. Rottenness entered] Or, entereth. "Rottenness" is a figure for utter

failure of strength. I trembled in myself] I tremble in my place, or, where I stand.

2 Sam. ii. 23. That I might rest in the day of trouble] The words on to the end of

the verse are very obscure. The first half of the verse describes the terror and paralysis that came upon the poet (or community) from what he "heard "; there appears no connexion between this idea and A. V. that I might rest. R.V. renders that I should rest, which appears to mean, that I must rest or remain quiet in the day of trouble, i.e. probably, endure patiently the day of trouble. R.V. marg. suggests: that I should rest waiting for the day of trouble, i.e. wait patiently for (or unto) the day of trouble. The term rest has nowhere else such a sense.

When he cometh up unto the people] The words might possibly mean: the day of trouble, which is to come up agai1tst the people, to invade them (like a troop). The " people" might be the speaker's own people, for the day of trouble is universal; or possibly it might mean the people of the earth universally (Ps. xxii. 6; Is. xl. 7, xiii. 5). The day of trouble is a day resembling that of which the speaker has "heard" (vv. 3-r5), the report of which makes his lips tremble, and such a day can hardly be a time of calamity to come on Israel from any invader, it must rather be the day of general judgment and of the divine Theophany prayed for in eh. iii. 2. For this reason the other marginal suggestion of R.V. is not probable: the day of trouble, when he that shall invade

vv. 17, 18.) HABAKKUK, III.

Although the fig tree shall not blossom, Neither shall fruit be in the vines; The labour of the olive shall fail, And the fields shall yield no meat; The flock shall be cut off from the fold, And there shall be no herd in the stalls : Yet I will rejoice in the LORD,

93

tkem cumeth up against the people. The hard ellipses which this render­ing assumes in the Heb. text are also against it. Owing to the ambiguity of the pronouns in Heb. another rendering still is possible: the day of trouble, which is to come up against the people that invades (assails) us. So Wellh. Certainty as to the exact meaning is not attainable. The "day of distress," however, is the Theophany of the judge, in conformity with the whole scope of the poem. Zeph. i. 15 also calls the day of the Lord "a day of distress." This manifestation of the great God is terrible even to Israel, notwithstanding that the issue of it will be the deliverance of the people of God and the destruction of their adversaries. The "day" is personified and spoken of as coming on mankind(" the people") like an invader.

17-19. It is not easy to say whether v. 17 contains a series of suppositions referring to what may happen in the future, or describes a condition of things actually existing. The latter way of reading the verse is the more natural. The verse does not suggest a condition of scarcity and barrenness arising from a hostile invasion of the land, but rather one due to the incidence of severe natural calamities. The word for, with which the verse begins, connects very loosely with the preceding v. 16. The mood of the speaker also in vv. r8, 19 is confident· and jubilant, in strong contrast to the gloom and terror of v. 16. It is possible that the poem originally ended with v. r6, and that vv. 17-19 are an addition. The difference of tone in v. 16 and vv. 17-19 is not decisive, for in such poems the author's mind not unusually passes from gloomy anticipations to confidence. · The verse may read:

For though the figtree doth not blossom, And there is no fruit in the vines; The produce of the olive faileth, And the fields yield no meat; The flock is cut off from the fold, And there is no herd in the stalls.

It is the community that speaks in vv. 17-19, as is evident from vv. 18, 19.

18. Yet I will rejoice in the LORD] Comp. Ps. v. 11, xxxii. rr, xxxiii. r ; Is. lxi. 10. In spite of calamities the people will joy in God; though earthly blessings perish He remains their portion. The joy is partly a present one in the possession of God, as Ps. lxxiii. 13, "Never­theless I am continually with thee"; and partly one of hope in His salvation; Ps. xviii. 46; Mic. vii. ]; Is. xvii. u ff.

18

94 HABAKKUK, III. [v. 19.

I will joy in the God of my salvation. •9 The Lord Goo is my strength,

And he will make my feet like hinds' feet, And he will make me to walk upon mine high places. To the chief singer on my stringed instruments.

19, The Lord GOD is my strength] lit. Jehovah, the Lord i's, &c. Ps. lxxiii. z6, "God is the strength of my heart"; xviii. 32, "The God that girdeth me with strength." The strength is an inward one, con­fidence and assurance and courageousness in the face of all external afflictions.

And he will make my feet] Or, a.nd he maketh. The points in the comparison are perhaps swiftness and security. What is suggested is the freshness of life, the power and confidence in action, which is felt to be drawn from God.

And he will make me to walk] Or, a.nd he maketh me. upon mine high places] The words seem still to carry on the figure

of the "hinds' feet." The pronoun mine does not refer to any particular high places; my high places are just those on which I walk or tread. Sept., Syr., Vulg. omit my, with no difference of meaning. The phrase "tread on my high places" expresses the freedom, the superiority to hindrance or restraint, and the power, which the community is conscious of in the strength of God. Cf. Ps. xviii. 33.

To the chief singer] In the titles to Ps. iv., vi. the word is rendered chief musician. It means director, or, superintendent.

on my stringed instruments] Or, with my. In the titles to Ps. iv., vi. &c. in A.V. the original word neginoth is retained. In the sing. this word may mean playing on strings, in the plur. it appears to mean stringed instruments. The whole expression has the meaning: To the director in the (Temple) music; or, To the director; with (Temple) music. The pronoun my occasions difficulty. On the assumption that this musical direction came from the author of the hymn it has been inferred that he was a Levite and a musician. Such an assumption would exclude the authorship of Habakkuk. But even supposing the author were some other Levite, how could a single member of the orchestra say "my stringed instruments"? The Sept. reads his, which might refer to the director, but no reliance can ever be placed on the pronouns of the Sept. All evidence, however, is against ascribing any of these musical directions to the authors of the hymns themselves. The similar passage Is. xxxviii. 20 should perhaps be rendered: "Therefore will we strike (play) my stringed instruments all the days of our life in the house of the Lord." In both passages the pronoun my must either be deleted according to the usage in the titles to Ps. iv., vi. &c., or the speaker who says "my" must be supposed to be the worshipping congregation. Only a collective body could say " my stringed instruments" and "our life" (Is. xxxviii. "20) in the same breath.

On the Prayer of Habakkuk see Kirkpatrick, Doctrine of the Prophets, pp. 280-"285. _ -

ZEPHANIAH.

INTRODUCTION.

§ I. THE PROPHET.

THE name Zephaniah appears to mean, He whom 'Jehovah protects, lit. has hid. T-he words used in eh. i. 4, "I will cut off the remnant of Baal from this place," shew that the prophet lived in Jerusalem. He is familiar with the different localities in the capital, as the Fish gate, the Second Quarter, and the Maktesh, apparently the quarter of the merchants (i. 10, II), and with the various classes inhabiting the city; and his picture of the social and religious practices prevailing among the people is drawn from observation (i. 4-8, r2).

In eh. i. I it is said that the prophet was the great-great­grandson of Hezekiah. It is not usual to carry the genealogy of a prophet higher up than his father: Isaiah, for example, is called the son of Amoz, Jeremiah the son of Hilkiah, Hosea the son of Beeri, and similarly in most cases. There was, there­fore, probably some reason for carrying the descent of Zepha­niah back through four generations. Such a reason would appear if Hezekiah, the highest link in the chain, were the king of that name. That the words "king of Judah" are not added after Hezekiah is of little consequence. His name was too well known to need such an addition, and as the words "king of Judah" had to follow the name of Josiah, their repeti­tion would have been awkward in style.

The objection has been urged that, as Josiah was third in descent from Hezekiah, if Zephaniah was the fourth in descent

g6 ZEPHANIAH.

from the same ancestor, the two could hardly have been con­temporaries (eh. i. 1). The objection is not fatal, though perhaps Zephaniah could not have been of an age to prophesy at an early period of Josiah's reign. From the dates given in the Book of Kings (2 Kings xxi. 1, 19) it appears that Manasseh was 45 years of age when his son Amon was born. This was probably an unusually late age, for Amon's own son, Josiah, must have been born when he was 16 (2 Kings xxi. 19, xxii. r). If Amariah, therefore, was a brother of Manasseh, he may very well have had a grandson contemporary with Manasseh's son Amon, or even older than he. There is nothing, consequently, against the supposition that it was at this point that an addi­tional generation came in in the line of Zephaniah's descent. The prophet may have been about the same age as Josiah him­self, or even some years older. When Jeremiah began to prophesy in 626 Josiah was 21, and 26 at the time of his great Reform. Zephaniah may have been one of the "prophets" (2 Kings xxiii. 2) who supported this reform, though neither his name nor that of Jeremiah is mentioned.

The royal descent of Zephaniah, though not certain, is sup­ported by plausible grounds. The prophet condemns the members of the royal house for their aping of foreign manners, and for the high-handed wrongs practised by their retainers. It would he interesting if the condemnation came from one who belonged to the royal family himself, though not at all strange, considering how widely the sentiments of Josiah differed from those of his grandfather Manasseh and of his father Amon.

§ 2. DATE OF THE PROPHECY.

In the Title to the prophecy (i. 1) Zephaniah is said to have prophesied in the days of Josiah. Josiah reigned B.C. 639-6o8, and his Reform, consequent on the discovery of the Book of the Law in the Temple (2 Kings xxii., xxiii.), was inaugurated in the 18th yt!ar of his reign, B.C. 621. The prophet's description of the state of religion and manners in his day, the syncretism and idolatry (i. r-4), the high-handed injustice of the ruling officials (i. 8 ff.), and the general corruption of all classes (iii.

INTRODUCTION. 97

1-7), points to a time before Josiah'sreform. No doubt Jeremiah assails similar abuses at a time much later. But most of Jere­miah's prophecies belong to the reigns of Josiah's successors, when his reforms were allowed to fall into abeyance and former practices to some extent reasserted themselves. The phrase "I will cut off the remnant of Baal" might suggest that a partial reform had already been introduced. Instead of "remnant of Baal" the Sept. reads "the names of Baal." But, apart from this reading, "remnant of Baal" may mean "false worship wholly." In 2 Chr. xxxiv. 3 it is stated that Josiah's efforts in the direction of reform began in his 12th year. It is possible that Zephaniah might allude to this earlier movement when he speaks of the remnant of Baal, though on the whole the most likely sense of the phrase is, "every vestige of false worship." In any case the prophecy would precede Josiah's final reform in 621.

The burden of the Book is "the day of the Lord," the judg­ment of God upon the whole earth. The day of the Lord is a day of darkness and supernatural terrors, but also a day of the trumpet and alarm against the fenced cities. The judgment is executed partly by instruments whom the Lord has consecrated for that end. It is a sacrifice, and the guests are already bidden. Israel is the sacrifice, and the guests are those whom the Lord has called to consume it. It is obvious that in the phrase," He hath sanctified his guests," the prophet refers to some particular people, who, he anticipates, will execute the judgment of God on Israel (Is. xiii. 3 ff.). It was the movements of this people, the report of them and the alarm they were creating among the nations, that awoke the presentiment in the prophet's mind that Jehovah was about to use them for the chastisement of Israel and of the world. The Chaldeans could hardly be the people in the prophet's view, for, though Nabopolassar succeeded in 625 in placing the crown of Babylon on his brow, his kingdom was still a dependency of Assyria, and probably confined to the southern half of Babylonia. Assyria was still mistress of the West, and there was nothing in the history of the Chaldeans nor in their position at the time to suggest that they would be a menace to the world.

N, H. Z, 7

ZEPHANIAH.

In a useful essay on Zephaniah 1, Schwally suggests that the Egyptians are the people whom the prophet has in view. The suggestion is not a happy one. As the prophets represent the ''day of the Lord" it is ajudgment upon the known world, upon Israel and the historical nations lying within its horizon of vision; and the nation that executes the judgment is some fierce and wild people, emerging from the far-off and unknown regions of the earth, the report of which only has reached the historical nations. In the earliest chapters of Isaiah it may be doubtful if any nation be regarded as the Lord's instrument of judgment ; the "day of the Lord" seems altogether a moral presentiment: the evil of mankind and their insensibility to the sovereignty of Jehovah is so great that the Lord, the King, must interpose to bring Himself to the knowledge of men. Even if somewhat later the Assyrians be in the prophet's mind, the Assyrians at this time were still an unknown people, at least to Judah. In Is. xiii. the nation associated with the day of the Lord is the Medes, a terrible and ruthless people "from a far country, from the end of heaven" (v. 5). And in Ezek. xxxviii. and xxxix. the nation is Gog, a people from the uttermost regions of the north, and the prophet appears to identify this nation with the foe prophesied of in Zephaniah, whose prediction he regards as still awaiting fulfilment (Ezek. xxxviii. 17). A historical nation like Egypt, which had always lain within Israel's horizon, was not fitted to be the executor of Jehovah's judgment upon the known world, not to mention that in the present case Cush, which either means Egypt or includes it, has itself to bear the judgment (Zeph. ii. 12)2•

In the second half of the 7th century the Scythians appeared in western Asia, and for a number of years spread terror and confusion among the nations. They broke into Palestine and penetrated as far as Egypt, though Psammetichus (H.C. 663-610) is said to have saved his country from their ravages by bribing them to retire. It is in all likelihood to this people that Zepha­niah alludes. The date of their appearance in Palestine cannot

1 Zeitschr. fur Alttest. Wissemchaft, 1890, Heft 2. 2 Schwally, however, denies the authenticity of the verse.

INTRODUCTION. 99

be ascertained with precision, although the beginning of the last quarter of the century may be taken as an approximate date. Wellhausen suggests that the words in eh. ii. 3, "it may be ye shall be hid in the day of the Lord's anger,"-may have been written after it was seen that the invaders were following the coast road, and it was hoped that Jerusalem would escape. There is nothing in the prophet's language to support this view. It is certainly more natural to suppose that the prophecy be­longs to the time before the actual appearance of the enemy in Palestine. The foe from the North of the earlier chapters of Jeremiah is probably the same terrible. people, and the im­posing though somewhat vague pictures of them given by both prophets shew that they drew from rumour rather than from actual acquaintance (Zeph. i. 14-18). The order in which the nations are named in eh. ii. cannot be taken as indicating the line of march followed by the invaders. This order is Philistia, Moab and Ammon, Cush, and finally Nineveh; while the line of march would have given Philistia and then Cush or Egypt. Neither can it be supposed that the prophet's view was that Moab and Ammon would suffer from the back-wave of the retreating Scythians, because here again Cush is named after Moab and Ammon. It would be more natural to suppose that, speaking when only rumours of the approaching foe had reached him, the prophet anticipated that they would follow the two great roads, that on the Mediterranean coast and that on the other side of the Jordan, or that the wave of invasion would submerge the whole country from the sea to the desert. In enumerating the nations the order followed by the prophet is west (Philistia), east (Moab), south (Cush), north (Nineveh), and no principle is to be detected in the order any more than in Amos i., where the order is north-east (Damascus), south-west (Gaza), north-west (Tyre), south-east (Edom).

§ 3. INTEGRITY OF THE PROPHECY,

While eh. i. is universally admitted to be the writmg of Zephaniah, several scholars have recently expressed serious

7-2

100 ZEPHANIAH.

doubts in regard to eh. ii. and iii. Stade1 assigns eh. iii. to the post-Exile age, and is suspicious of some things in eh. ii., viz. vv. 1-3, 11. In his Essay already alluded to Schwally concludes that eh. iii. belongs to the post-Exile age, and eh. ii. 5-12 to the period of the Exile; only ii. 13-15 can be ascribed to Zephaniah, and possibly ii. 1-4- In a well-reasoned paper on Habakkuk and Zephaniah 2, Budde argues for the genuineness of ii. 1-3, iii. 1-5, 7, 81 6 (in this order), 11-13; rejecting ii. 4-15 and iii. 9, 10, 14-20. Kuenen finds no difficulty except with regard to iii. 14-20, which he assigns to a later date ; while Driver in his Introduction raises no questions in respect of any part of the Book. In regard to iii. 14-20 Driver would probably repeat the line of observation which he adopts in reference to Mic. vii. 7-20 (p. 313), as the two passages have many similarities.

The present is not the place to enter into the questions raised with any minuteness. The general ground on which the passages named above are denied to Zephaniah is that a phra­seology and a circle of ideas appear in them which are charac­teristic of the Exile and post-Exile periods, to which therefore they are to be assigned; and, as regards eh. ii. 4-15 in par­ticular, that the rather keen nationalistic spirit and the resent­ment against the neighbouring peoples displayed in the passage is not in harmony with the profound sense of the sinfulness of his own people shewn by the prophet in eh. i.

(r) With regard to eh. ii. 1-3 it may be remarked that, though the text may be in some confusion, the idea expressed by the passage is necessary to complete the thought of eh. i. The prophets do not usually content themselves with bare threats or announcements of judgment. Neither do they ever contemplate a complete destruction of the people. The purpose of the judg­ment is not to exterminate, but to purify (Is. iv. 4), and even when it appears imminent it may be averted by repentance and amendment (Jer. vii. 5 ff., xviii. 7; Joel ii. 12 ff.). Such expres·

1 History, i. 644, note 3. 2 Die Bucher Habakkuk und Sephanja, Stud. u. Kritiken, 1893,

P· 383 ff.

INTRODUCTION. IOI

sions as "all ye meek of the earth," "seek meekness" (ii. 3), have been thought suspicious on the ground that the use of "meek," "meekness" as religious terms, is characteristic of an age later than that of Zephaniah. But unquestionably the idea that humility before God is the right attitude of men is one of the oldest ideas in Scripture (Ex. x. 3, J) and one of those most frequently insisted on by the prophets (Is. ii. 11; Mic. vi. 8), and the argument that, though this be true, the term "meek" is not yet used in early writings to express the religious idea is rather precarious. In Numb. xii. 3 (E) the expression is used of Moses, and in Is. xi. 4 the phrase "the meek of the earth'' bears the same sense as it does Zeph. ii. 3. Comp. also Am. viii. 4.

(2) Objections have been taken to eh. ii. 4-15 as a whole or to parts of it, e.g. the prophecy against Moab and Ammon, vv. 8-10, and the passage has been assigned to the period of the Exile. In answer to those who would reject the whole passage it may be urged that it was to be expected that Zephaniah, who foresees the approaching day of the Lord, and a universal judgment to be executed by the terrible foe from the north, should mention some nations by name, just as Amos does eh. i., ii. It is true that he is mainly occupied with the condition of his own people, whose indifference and sin and idolatry must for ever be swept away that a new era may arise. And it is also true that in some other passages where the day of the Lord and a general judg­ment is announced the judgment concentrates itself upon a particular nation, on Babylon in Is. xiii., and on Israel Is. ii., iii. But both in eh. i. and eh. iii. the view of Zephaniah remains general, e.g. i. 14-18 and iii. 8.

Further, the passage ii. 4-15 appears to have no points of contact with the period of the Exile. A threat of God'sjudgment upon Nineveh during the Exile would be very strange, consider­ing that Nineveh was in ruins twenty years before the Exile began. It may be admitted that the prophecy against Nineveh is somewhat general and wants the power of Nahum's im­passioned oratory, but the style of Zephaniah throughout has little of the vigour of that of Nahum, though in religious

102 ZEPHANIAH.

depth and earnestness of moral tone he greatly excels the other prophet.

There is one point which rather tells against dating ii. 4-15 in the period of the Exile. The passage does not allude to Edom. But it is highly improbable that a threat of judgment on the nations, uttered during the Exile, would fail to include Edom. On the other hand if the passage belong to the time of Zephaniah, the parallel between it and Deuteronomy in the view taken of the neighbouring nations is what might have been looked for. In Deut. xxiii. 3-8 Moab and Ammon are also strongly denounced, whiie Edom is spoken of with kind­ness.

As no movements among the nations are known late in the Exile which would suggest an impending attack upon the nations named in ii. 4-15, those who assign the passage to this period are compelled to regard it as totally unreal. It is a mere foil to eh. i., with no historical foundation. It is the production of a writer who desired to relieve the dark picture of judgment on Israel by presenting a companion one shewing a judgment no less terrible upon the nations. It was really of no consequence what heathen nations were named ; the author felt safe in devoting Moab and Ammon, Israel's old relentless foes, to the vengeance of God at any time. This is a view of the passage which serious students will not take without good evidence.

Ch. ii. 4-15 appears to be a unity, being written in elegiac measure. In some verses the rhythm is imperfect. The same rhythmical irregularity is observable in most of the elegiac passages in the prophets. Either the poet did not succeed completely in giving expression to the rhythmical movement, or, what is more likely, the verses have been mutilated in transcrip­tion or loaded with additions. It is quite possible that vv. 4-15 have in various places been expanded.

(3) No reasonable objection can be urged against the genuine­ness of eh. iii. r-7. The passage is characterized by the same moral earnestness that distinguishes eh. i. 2-ii. 3. It is alto­gether improbable that such epithets as "rebellious and pol­luted" and "oppressive" should ~e applied to Jerusalem except

INTRODUCTION. 103

in the pre-Exile period. Again, vv. 11-13 have also every mark of genuineness. They describe the Jerusalem of the future, purified by judgment. And as was to be expected the picture is in contrast, point by point, to the Jerusalem of the prophet's day (vv. 1-7), just as the Jerusalem of Isaiah's dreams (i. 26)1

righteous and faithful, is in contrast to the city of murderers ( v. 21) with which he was familiar.

Verses 8-10 form the connexion between '1/V. 1-7 and vv. I I - I 3, and the verses are rather obscure. In v. 8 the threat of universal judgment is repeated from eh. i. 18. This judgment must be considered to overtake both Israel and the heathen, "the whole earth." The following verses then describe the day of salvation that breaks after the night of judgment, vv. 9, 10

applying to the nations and v. I I ff. to Israel. The text of v. 10 is difficult (see notes). If the reading "daughter of my dis­persed" be retained, as this expression could be applied only to Jews, the verse would predict that the converted nations shall bring back the dispersed of Israel as an offering to Jehovah (Is. lxvi. 20). With this sense the pre-Exile date of v. 10 would be questionable. The omission of the verse, which at best adds a mere local detail to v. 9, might even be felt to add dignity to the passage, the two great facts of the conversion of the nations (v. 9) and the regeneration of Israel (v. II) being set in fine simplicity side by side.

The extremely beautiful passage vv. 14-20 appears to belong to a different situation. Instead of threatening a universal judgment on Jew and Gentile, as alike guilty before God, the writer promises to Zion that Jehovah "will deal with all them that afflict her" (v. 19). Of those belonging to Zion there are also some "that sorrow far away from the solemn assembly," and a promise is given that they shall be "gathered" (vv. 18, 20). Further, the "judgments" on Israel seem to have already fallen and to lie behind the prophet (v. 15), while before him there is the vision of a glorious day about to dawn. The situation is very similar to that which appears in Is. xl. ff. The language of the passage, too, is not without similarities to these chapters of Isaiah, e.g. "sing" (v. 14), "fear not" (v. 16), and

104 ZEPHANIAH.

other expressions. There is a great contrast between the jubilant tone of vv. 14-20 and that of vv. 11-13, which is very sombre. In iii. 1-13 the profound moral feeling of the prophet, his sense of the sin of his people and of the severity of the judgments needful to change them, colours his picture of their final felicity (vv. u-13). Though the people are blessed and enjoy peace, the scars of the afflictions which they have passed through remain upon them.

There are some things in eh. iii. which might suggest that it is a unity, e.g. the use of the phrases "thy midst," "her midst," vv. 5, u, 12, 1 5, 17. There are also coincidences of the language with that of Jeremiah, which do not appear in eh. i. Such similarities are "receive correction" (iii. 2, 7, cf. Jer. v. 3, vii. 28 &c.); reference to the "righteousness" of Jehovah (iii. 5, cf. J er xi. 20, xii. 1); the phrase "rose early and corrupted" (iii. 7, cf. Jer. vii. 13, and very often); the expression " fierce anger" (iii. 8, cf. Jer. iv. 8, 26, and a number of times); deprecation of pride or i•haughtiness" on the part of the people (iii. II, cf. J er. xiii, 15); the idea of the Lord "rejoicing over" His people (iii. 17, cf. Jer. xxxii. 41); and the promise that Israel restored shall be "a name and a praise" (iii. 20, cf. Jer. xiii. 11, xxxiii. 9).

There is nothing in these coincidences to awaken suspicion of the genuineness at least of iii. 1-13, though they might suggest that the passage was later than eh. i. The progress of thought in eh. i. 2-ii. 3 is entirely parallel to that in eh. iii. 1-13. In the former passage the judgment, eh. i., is followed by the prospect of deliverance, eh. ii. 1-3 ; and in the latter the judgment, iii. 1-8, is followed by the promise of redemption, iii. 9-13.

§ 4. CONTENTS OF THE PROPHECY.

The prophecy of Zephaniah falls into two general divisions, first, eh. i. 2-iii. 8, a threat of judgment on the world, on Israel and the nations; and secondly, a promise of salvation equally universal, eh. iii; 9-20.

The great conception of the prophecy is that of "the day of the Lord." The day of the Lord is the time when the Lord

INTRODUCTION. 105

reveals Himself in His fulness to the world, when He judges evil and fulfils His great purposes of redemption among men. The judgment of this "day" is universal, though it falls primarily upon the sinners in Israel. But the judgment has not its end in itself, it is but the means of making Jehovah known to the world, and this knowledge of Him is salvation. The lips of the nations are purified that they may call upon the name of the Lord, and Israel comes forth from the judgment a chastened and humble people, trusting in Jehovah their God alone (iii. 9-13).

J ehovah's revelation of Himself is accompanied with terrible signs and convulsions in nature (i. 14-18). But for the execution of His judgment He also uses instruments, whom He has commissioned and consecrated for that work. The judg­ment on Israel is represented by the prophet as a great sacrificial feast. Israel is the sacrifice, and the fierce nation from afar, the executors of His judgment, are the guests whom Jehovah has invited to consume it.

The first division of the prophecy, the announcement of judg­ment, eh. i. 2-iii. 81 has three chief sections: (i) the judgment on Israel, eh. i. 2-ii. 3. (ii) The judgment on the nations, eh. ii. 4-15. And (iii) the renewed threat of judgment on Israel and the nations alike, eh. iii. 1-8.

i. Ch. i. 2-ii. 3, the judgment on all created things, con­centrating itself on Judah and Jerusalem.

(r) The judgment is universal, consuming man and beast (vv. 2, 3). (2) It falls particularly on the devotees of false worship and on the irreligious (vv. 4-7). (3) But all classes are depraved, from the royal house down to the people. The Lord will search Jerusalem with lanterns, and no hiding-place shall conceal men (vv. 8-13). (4) The terrors of the day of the Lord. It is a day of wrath, a day of darkness and con­vulsions in nature. It is also a day of the trumpet and hostile assault on the fenced cities, when men's blood shall be poured out as the dust (vv. 14-18). (5) Therefore let the meek seek Jehovah, it may be they shall be hid in the day of His fierce anger (eh. ii. 1-3).

ZEPHANIAH.

ii. Ch. ii. 4-15, judgment on the nations. Five nations are named, the Philistines, Moab and Ammon,

Cush and Assyria, lying west, east, south and north of Israel. iii. Ch. iii. 1-8, renewed announcement of judgment, par­

ticularly on Jerusalem, but also on the nations, even on the whole earth.

(1) Jerusalem is rebellious, polluted and full of oppression (v. 2); disobedient to God, and indifferent to His word and His operations among the nations (vv. 2, 5-7). Every class within her is corrupt: her princes violent, her judges venal and greedy (v. 3), her prophets unstable and false, and her priests profaners of that which is holy (v. 4 ff.).

(2) Therefore the Lord will rise up injudgment and consume the whole earth in the fire of His jealousy (v. 8). · The second division of the prophecy, the promise of sal­vation to the world, eh. iii. 9-20, has also three short sections : the promise to the nations (vv. 9, 10); the promise to Israel ( vv. II-I 3); and lastly a reference to the final condition of Israel, for ever joyful in the presence of their God (vv. 14-20).

(1) In His judgments the Lord is made known unto the nations, and He purifies their lips so that they fitly call on the name of the Lord; and all peoples, even the most distant, serve Him with offerings (vv. 9, 10).

(2) And Israel comes forth from the judgment chastened and no more haughty, the people's trust being in the Lord alone. And the social wrongs of former days are no more found ; every one deals in rectitude and truthfulness with his neighbour (vv. rr-13).

(3) The people redeemed and all their outcasts restored rejoice for ever in the Lord, who abides in the midst of them, mighty to save (vv. 14-20).

The value of the Book of Zephaniah is not to be estimated by its size. In two respects it is of great importance: first, for the revelation which it gives of the religious and social condition of Jerusalem in the years preceding the Exile; and secondly, on account of the profoundly earnest moral tone by which it is,

INTRODUCTION. 107

pervaded. Perhaps not less remarkable is the prophet's com­prehensive view of history. The history of the nations is but another name for the operations of Jehovah among them; and the goal which all these operations pursue is not the redemption of Israel merely but of mankind. The most important parts of the prophecy are eh. i. 2-ii. 3 and eh. iii. 1-13. The other parts, e.g. eh. ii. 4-15, are characterized by a narrower national­istic spirit. The most beautiful thing in the book is the passage eh. iii. 11-13. The picture of the redeemed people coming newly forth from the convulsions and afflictions of the judgment, bumble and truthful, blessed, but filled with a chastened joy, is exquisite.

"The immediate judgment with which Zephaniah threatened Jerusalem was averted. But his prophecy began to be fulfilled in the disasters which befell neighbouring nations. It was ful­filled yet further in those great convulsions of the nations of the East which followed shortly. It was fulfilled for Judah in the captivity and the destruction of the guilty nation. For these were all steps of progress advancing towards the great end, elements contributing to the fulness of the times, preludes to the establish­ment of the universal divine kingdom 1.''

1 Kirkpatrick, Doctrine of the Prop!tets, p. 262.

ZEPHANIAH.

T HE word of the LORD which came unto Zephaniah the I son of Cushi, the son of Gedaliah, the son of Amariah,

the son of Hizkiah, in the days of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah.

CHAP, I. THE TITLE.

1. The word ... unto Zephaniah] The name Zephaniah means, He whom 7ehovak has hid, that is, treasures, or protects. The name is not uncommon, Jer. xxi. 1, lii. 24; Zech. vi. 10.

tke son of Hizkiak] Hizkiah or Hezekiah may be the king of that name. It is unusual to carry the genealogy of a prophet further up than his father, and the exception in the present case suggests that Hezekiah, the last link in the chain, was a person of distinction. See Introduction, § I,

in tke dayJ ef Josiak ... ki:otg ef 7 udah] The words " king of Judah" refer to Josiah, not to his father Amon. Josiah reigned B.c. 639-608.

THE BooK.

The Book has two great divisions: First, eh. i. ,z-iii. 8, a threat of judgment on the world: on Judah and the nations; and secondly, a promise of salvation equally universal, eh. iii. 9-20, The judgment is that of the great day of the Lord. The prophet represents it as universal, but concentrating itself on Judah, eh. i. 2-ii. 3 ; then as involving the nations, eh. ii. 4-15; and finally he speaks of Judah and the nations together, eh. iii. 1-8.

The passage eh. i. 2-ii. 3 has these divisions: (r) Judgment on all created things, and especially on Judah and Jerusalem (vv. 2-7); (2) the classes in Jerusalem whom God will search out and punish (vv. 8-13); (3) the terrors of the day of the Lord (vv. 14-18); (4) exhortation to men to seek righteousness that they may be hid in the day of the Lord's anger (eh. ii, 1-3),

IIO ZEPHANIAH, ·1. [vv. 2-4-

,, I will utterly consume all things from off the land, saith the LoRD.

3 I will consume man and beast; I will consume the fowls of the heaven, and the fishes of

the sea, And the stumblingblocks with the wicked; And I will cut off man from off the land, saith the LORD.

4 I will also stretch out mine hand upon Judah,

CH. I. 2-7. THE UNIVERSAL JUDGMENT OF THE DAY OF THE LORD.

2. from off the land] from off' the face of the ground, i.e. the earth, cf. v. 3. The judgment is indiscriminate, all that lives shall be swept away. Though it is men against whom God's anger burns, the anger once kindled devours round about and conslllnes all created things. The sphere of man's life, the realm of his rule (Ps. viii. 6-8), is involved with himself in a common destruction.

3. Verse 3 particularises the "all things" of v. -z, cattle and fowl and fishes of the sea, and man. Hos. iv. 3, "Therefore shall the land mourn, and everyone that dwelleth therein shall languish, with the beasts of the field and the fowls of heaven; yea the fishes of the sea also shall be taken away." Similarly Ezek. xxxviii. 19, "Surely in that day there shall be a great shaking in the land of Israel ; so that the fishes of the sea, and the fowls of the heaven, and the beasts of the field and all creeping things that creep upon the earth, and all the men that are upon the face of the earth, shall shake at my presence"; cf. Is. ii. 19-2r.

the stumblingblocks ... wicked] The words are rather obscure, and seem to disturb the connexion. The term rendered '' stumblingblock" occurs again Is. iii. 6, "let this rnin (the country in anarchy) be under tliy hand," and Hitzig would understand it here in a somewhat similar sense, the houses, &c. "destined to become heaps" (Job xv. 28). The so~hat similar word usually rendered "stumbling block" is used in the sense of idol, or any object or practice of false worship {Ezek. xiv. 3, 4, 7) 1 and this sense is more probable here. But the clause introduces an idea not in harmony with the rest of the verse.

4. The prophet turns to Judah and Jerusalem. Though the Day of the Lord was the revelation of Jehovah to the world, and therefore a thing universal, the centre of the judgment in the view of the pre-exile prophets was Israel (Am. i., ii. ; Is. ii., iii.), for judgment began at the house of God (Am. iii. 2). With the exile the judgment on Israel seemed to have been fulfilled, and during the exile and later the judg­meut of the Day of the Lord is represented as falling on the heathen world (Is. xiii. ; Zech. i.-vi.), and its issue is Israel's redemption. But after the Restoration, when Israel was again a people and far from answering to its ideal, prophets have to threaten it anew with the refiner's fire of the Day of the Lord (Mal. iii. 2 ff.).

I will also stretch] And I Will stretch out my hand, i.e. in order to

v. 4.] ZEPHANIAH, I.

And upon all the inhabitants of Jerusalem; And I will cut off the remnant of Baal from this place, And the name of the Chemarims with the priests;

III

smite, Is. v. '25, ix. I'2, xiv. '26, 27. As in Am. i., ii. the cloud laden with judgment trails round the horizon, discharging itself on one nation after another, and finally settles over Israel, so here Jehovah's wrath against all created things concentrates itself on Judah and Jerusalem.

tke remnant ef Baal from this place] The words " from this place" imply that Zephaniah lived in Jerusalem. The term Baal appears to be used, particularly in later writers, not only of Baal proper, but also of the images of Jehovah, and even in a wider way of Jehovah under any false conception of His being. Worship rendered nominally to Jehovah, but unworthy of Him, and implying an inadequate conception of His nature, was stigmatised as Baal-worship. The expression the remnant, besides its natural sense of " that which is left," may mean "the whole," so that " remnant of Baal " may have the sense of " false worship wholly" (Is. xiv. '22), and this is probably the meaning here. For II remnant" Sept. gives names of Baal, a rendering which may be due to the influence of Hos. ii. r7, "I will take away the names of the Baalim out of her mouth." Cf. Zech. xiii. 2.

the name ef the Chemarims] The A.V. plur. Chemarims is of the same sort as Cherubims (Gen. iii. 24) and Seraphims (Is. vi. z); in Heb. the word Chemarim (pronounced Kemarim) is itself a plural. The term is derived from an Aramaic root, meaning " to be black," but whether the priests were so named as II black-robed " or for some other reason is not certain. In addition to the present passage the word is used in Hos. x. 5 of the priests of the calves in the northern kingdom, and in 2 Kings xxiii. 5 of the priests of the high places in the cities of Judah and outside Jerusalem (A.V. idolatrous priests). In the latter passage the construction leaves it somewhat uncertain whether the strictly idolatrous priests who offered sacrifice to Baal, the sun and the moon, be also included among the Chemarim. In Hos. x. 5 the Sept. does not read the word, and in 2 Kings xxiii. 5 it merely transeribes the name in Greek letters.

with the priests] The clause is wanting in Sept., and may be a later addition. The view of Keil that " the priests" are the strictly idola­trous priests who sacrificed to Baal and other deities, while the Chemarim are the priests of the high places, has little probability; in such a case the term "priests" would have been more fully defined. Whether the clause be a gloss or not, the II priests " are probably the degenerate regular priests of Jehovah, such as are described in ch.iii.4. ·

5. Besides the priests who lead the false worship, the various classes of worshippers shall be swept away: (1) those that worship the host of heaven on the house-tops; (-:) those who unite Jehovah and other gods in their worship ; and (3) those who have renounced the service of Jehovah, or who do not concern themselves about Him (v. 6}-those wholly indifferent, "settled on their lees" (v. r2).

112 ZEPHANIAH, I. [v. S·

s And them that worship the host of heaven upon the housetops;

And them that worship and that swear by the LoRo, And that swear by Malcham ;

the host of heaven] The "host of heaven" appears to be an expres• sion including the heavenly bodies in general, sun, moon and stars. Of course only particular stars, such as the more brilliant fixed stars and the planets, with the constellations of the zodiac ('2 Kings xxiii. 5), would be worshipped, not the starry heavens in a mass. The sun and moon are frequently specified separately from the "host of heaven," because more conspicuous, though they are no doubt to be included in the general expression, " host of heaven." The fact that the worship of the heavenly bodies was performed on the housetops indicates that the service was rendered directly to them when visible and not indirectly to representations of them. Job xxxi. '26 describes one way of performing the worship : " If I beheld the sun when it shined, or the moon walking in brightness, and my heart bath been secretly enticed, and my mouth bath kissed my hand "; cf. Ezek. viii. r6, " Behold, about five and twenty men, with their backs toward the temple of the Lord, and their faces toward the east ; and they worshipped the sun toward the east." Worship of the host of heaven is not alluded to by the prophets of northern Israel, unless it be in the obscure passage Am. v. '26. Its prevalence in Judah in later times was due to the influence of Assyria. It was natural that the vassal state should imitate the manners and religion of its superior. The practice appears to have been introduced by Ahaz ('2 Kings xxiii. 12), and is frequently alluded to by Jeremiah and writers after his time {Jer. xix. 13).

that swear by the LORD] lit. that swear to the Lord. To swear to the Lord is to acknowledge and do homage to Jehovah as God; to swear by the Lord is to bind oneself by His name in taking an oath. Cf. Is. xiv. '23, "unto me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear."

And that swear by Malcham] The word Malcham as pointed means their King-, that is, probably Molech. Others would point Milcom, the name of the god of the children of Ammon ( r Kings xi. 5, 33 ; 2 Kings xxiii. 13), who however is called Molech in I Kings xi. 7, Though Solomon to gratify his strange wives built high places to Milcom and other gods, worship o:f the Ammonitish Milcom in Israel is nowhere else alluded to and has little probability. The spelling Malcham, "their King," is therefore preferable, though it is possible that Malcham is merely another pronunciation of Milcom, meaning Malech. The vowels in the word MJ!ech are altogether anomalous, and are possibly those of the word shame (b6sheth), i.e. Baal; the word should in all likelihood be spelled Melech (or Malich), the ordinary word for "King," as in Is. !vii. 9. Molech is thus not a proper name, but one applicable to any chief god, whether Baal or another.

The construction of the clause is difficult. Two classes of persons cannot be meant: viz., such as worship and swear to Jehovah and such

vv. 6, 7.J ZEPHANIAH, I. II3

And them that are turned back from the LORD; 6

And those that have not sought the LORD, nor inquired for him.

Hold thy peace at the presence of the Lord Goo : 1

For the day of the LORD is at hand : For the LORD hath prepared a sacrifice, He hath bid his guests.

as swear by their King. One class of persons is described, those who worship Jehovah and also swear by their King, doing homage both to Jehovah and Molech. Ezekiel refers to such persons, eh. xxiii. 37 ff., " For when they had slain their children to their idols, then they came the same day into my sanctuary to profane it" (v. 39).

6. In this verse also one class of persons is described in two ways : those who h_ave turned away from Jehovah and who do not seek Him. Comp. the prophet's exhortation eh. ii. 2, "seek ye the Lord, all ye meek of the earth."

7. Hold thy peace ... Lord Gov] lit. the Lord ')'ehovak. The divine name Jehovah was not pronounced in the synagogue reading, the word · Lord (A.V. in that case LORD) being substituted for it; but when the actual word Lord (Adonai1 stood beside Jehovah then the reader sub­stituted God (A. V. Goo) for Jehovah. The prophet vividly realises the presence of Jehovah. He is present in the Day of the Lord which is at hand. And before His presence the prophet exclaims to men, Hush! Hab. ii. 20, Zech. ii. 13. The "day of the Lord" is not merely some great calamity or judgment which the prophet feels to be impending, it is always Jehovah's manifestation of Himself in fulness, and the judgment is the final and universal one. The coming of " the day of the Lord" was an ancient idea of the prophets (Hos. iv. 3; Is. ii. 12 ff.) and even of the people (Am. v. 18); it was a belief older than any written prophecy, as the passage in Amos shews, and later prophets (Is. xiii. 6 ff.; Zeph. i. 7 ff.; Joel i. 15, ii. 1) only amplify the details of the idea. The presentiment of its nearness, however, was often awakened in the prophet's mind by severe visitations of providence (Joel), or by great convulsions among the nations (Is. xiii .. ; Zeph. i.). Jehovah was so visibly present in these events that the presentiment could not be repressed that they were the tokens and heralds of His final manifestation of Himself, when His glory would be revealed and all flesh should see it together. Of course the prophet's presentiment was not realised, the impending judgment passed over, and the day of the Lord was delayed. But this fact should not lead us to suppose that the prophets call any great visitation of God by the name of "the day of the Lord."

prepared a sacrifice] The sacrifice, which is Israel, is slain, and the guests· who are to eat '?f the s~c~ificial n:eal are invited. The ~estruc­tion of I,rael is so certam that 1t 1s conceived as .already accomphshed.

He hath bid his giusts] lit. he hath consecrated (sanctified) them tkat an: bidden (1 Sam. ix. r3). Those bidden are the foes who ~hal1

N,H.L 8

II4 ZEPHANIAH, I. [v. 8.

B And it shall come to pass in the day of the LoRn's sacrifice,

That I will punish the princes, and the king's children, And all such as are clothed with strange apparel.

devour Israel. In ancient times slaughter of animals even for food was a kind of sacrificial act, as the blood and part of the flesh were offered to God, and only those who were clean could partake of the sacrificial meal (I Sam. xx. '26); hence some consecration or preparation on the part of the ?,uests was necessary, such as washing the clothes, in order to "sanctify ' themselves. The Lord has sanctified His guests who are to eat His sacrifice (Is. xiii. 3). Comp. the same idea Is. xxxiv. 6; Jer. xlvi. 10; Ezek. xxxix. 17, though in Ezek. the guests bidden to the Lord's sacrifice are the birds of every sort and the beasts of the field. There is a certain inconsistency in the figure : of course the foes are those who slay Israel, the sacrifice, but the figure represents Jehovah as slaying and preparing the sacrifice, which the guests consume. The metaphor shews that some particular assailant of Israel is in the prophet's view, just as in Is. xiii. 3. See Introduc­tion, § 1.

8-13. THE CLASSES IN JERUSALEM ON WHICH THE JUDGMENT WILL FALL.

The errors and sins assailed by Zephaniah are the same as those attacked by earlier ~rophets, e.g. (r) t~~ false worship? !'7'· _4-6, c£ Am. 1v. 4 ff.; Is. 1. II ff.; (2} the civil wrong and miustice, v. 9, cf. Am. v. 7, 10-13; Is. iii. u-r5, v. 8, '23; (3) dissatisfaction with the idea of the theocratic state and its place among the nations, and consequent assumption of foreign manners, v. 8, c£ Is. ii. 6, viii. 6 (they reject the waters of Shiloah that go softly), though possibly the luxury of foreign apparel may also be stigmatised (Am. vi. 3-7); and (4) religious indifference and insensibility to the operations of Jehovah, v. r2, cf. Am. vi. r, r3, 14; Is. v. If, t'2, vi. 9, ro, xxix. 9-n, the result of which was an absorbing devotion to secular business, v. 1 r, cf. Am.viii. 5.

8. I will punisk tke pn'nces] lit. visit upon the princes. The princes are the nobles, particularly those entrusted with judicial and similar offices.

tke king's ckildrcn] The children of the king are the royal house in general, hardly Josiah's own sons, who in the eighteenth year of his reign were aged ten and twelve (c2 Kings xxiii. 31, 36). For "children" Sept. reads /iouse of the king, a reading which at least suggests the right meaning. The words "children" and "house" are occasionally confused, Sept. reads "house" where Heh. has "children" in Jer. xvi. 15; Ezek. ii. 3; r Chron. ii. 10, and on the other hand it reads "children" where Heb. has "house" in Gen. xlv. II ; Ex. xvi. ,11; Josh. xvii. 17, xviii. 5; Hos. i. 7.

cktked with strange apparel] i.e. foreign apparel. It would be the

vv. 9, 10.] ZEPHANIAH, I.

In the same day also will I punish all those that leap on 9

the threshold, Which fill their masters' houses with violence and deceit. And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the LORD, ,o

That there shall be the noise of a cry from the fish gate, And a howling from the second, And a great crashing from the hills.

royal family," behold, they that wear soft clothing are in kings' houses'' (Matt. xi. 8), and the nobility who were given to this practice.

9. those that leap on the threshold] Rather : leap (or, spring) over the threshold. The priests of Dagon avoided treading on the threshold of his temple because the idol had fallen upon it (r Sam. v. 5). The connexion here, however, implies that leaping over the threshold is rather an act of violence, suggesting forcible invasion of the house, for the next clause, "that fill their master's house with violence," is a further description of those that leap over the threshold.

fill their masters' houses] More probably: their master's house, reference being to the king. Verses 8 and 9 seem to have a common subject, the princes and king's children, that is, the officers of the king and the members of the royal family. Probably persons belonging to the collateral branches of the royal house filled judicial and other offices in the government.

with violence and deceit] Or, wrong and .fraud. The words do not mean that wrong and fraud are committed in the house of the king, but that his house is filled with the proceeds of such things, cf. Is. iii. 14, 15. What is alluded to is the perversion of justice practised by the princes and the royal family for purposes of gain. At a later time Ezek. makes a similar complaint against the princes and royal house (eh. xxii. '25-29. Inv. z5 read princes).

10. tke .fish gate] The gate may have received its name from its vicinity to the fishmarket. From Neh. iii. r-3 it appears that the fish­gate lay to the west of the tower of Hananeel ; and in N eh. xii. 39 the procession starting from the south-west of the city and going round the walls north and east passed successively the gate of Ephraim, the old gate, the fishgate, the tower of Hauaneel and the tower of Meah, halting at the sheepgate, which was near the Temple. The fishgate therefore was situated in the northern wall of the city, probably not far from the N. W. angle of the walls. In the days of Nehemiah (xiii. r6), and possibly in the time of Zephaniah, the fishmongers were Tyrians, and their commodity was no doubt dried fish.

a howling from the second] Better as R.V. the second quarter, i.e. of the city. The second quarter may have been so called from its having been recently added to the city. In 2 Chron. xxxiii. 14 Manasseh is said to have built ari outer wall extending as far as the fishgate. The second quarter in all likelihood lay on the north of the city ; according to 2 Kings xxii. 14 the prophetess Huldah had her house there.

great crashing from the hills] lit. great breach. The crashing is 8-2

116 ZEPHANIAH, I.

n Howl, ye inhabitants of Maktesh, For all the merchant people are cut down; All they that bear silver are cut off.

,. And it shall come to pass at that time, That I will search Jerusalem with candles,

[vv. II, 12.

And punish the men that are settled on their lees :

scarcely the noise of falling buildings, the expression seems rather to be elliptical for a cry of great des/ruction (Is. xv. 5), parallel to "cry" and "howling" in the two previous clauses. The "hills" referred to are those on which Jerusalem was built, though especially those of the northern quarter.

11. :,e inkabitants of Maktesk] The term Maktesk is rendered "hollow-place," Judg. xv. 19, and mortar, Prov. xxvii. 22. Some depression or valley in the city is referred to: Hitzig thinks of that between Acra and the Temple area, and others of the valley of the Tyropceon or cheese-makers, a depression, now filled up with the rubbish of many centuries, which ran from north to south, dividing the city into two parts. The probability is that the Maktesh lay in the northern part of the city. It was on this side that Jerusalem was most liable to attack, and the prophet has in view throughout an invasion by a foe from the north.

all the merchant people] lit. the people of Canaan. The Canaanites or Phenicians were the chief traders in Palestine, and the name Canaan came to be used for merchant. It is scarcely actual Canaanites that are referred to here ; already in Hos. xii. 7 the term Canaan is applied figuratively to Ephraim, and in Ezek. xvL 29, xvii. 4, Chaldea is called the ','land of Canaan," i.e. the merchant land. In Is. xxiii. 8 the word Canaan seems to be used in the plur., and certainly in a figurative sense: •• her (Tyre's) traffickers are the honourable of the earth." In Prov. xxxi. z4 the form Canaanite is used for merchant, and so perhaps Job xli. 6 (Heb. xl. 30).

are cut down] R.V. are undone, as Is. vi. 5; the word is usually rendered cut off. Hos. x. 7, r 5.

All they that bear silver] Or, money. The reference is not to the trade of silversmiths, but rather to merchants in general.

12. I will search 7erusalem with candles} lit. with lamps, or, lanterns, Luke xv. 8. The darkest places shall be penetrated and those lurking in them discovered. Jehovah searches, though it may be by the hand of the enemy that He performs the search. It is out of these obscurist places that the men settled on their lees will have to be dragged. These are not enthusiasts who throng public places and are always in the light of day; they are the indifferent, who withdraw from public concerns, who have no zeal because no faith. In the pictures of Zephaniah as a saint he is represented carrying a lantern.

settled on their lees] lit. thickened on their lees. The figure is taken from wine that has sat long undisturbed, and is finely expanded in J er. xlviii. 11, 12, "Moab hath been at ease from his youth and he hath

v. 13.j ZEPHANIAH, i.

That say in their heart, The LORD will not do good, neither will he do evil.

Therefore their goods shall become a booty, and their t3

houses a desolation : They shall also build houses, but not inhabit them ; And they shall plant vineyards, but not drink the wine

thereof.

settled on his lees, and hath not been emptied from vessel to vessel... I will send unto him them that pour off, and they shall pour him off." Those referred to are men who have lived at ease, without trouble or vicissitude in life, and who have therefore sunk down into unfeeling indifference or even into incredulity regarding any interference of a higher power in the affairs of mankind (next clause).

The LORD will not do good] The phrase '' do good or do evil " has come to mean little more than "do aught" (Is. xli. 23), but properly it is used in a literal way; Jer. x. 5, "Be not afraid of them (the idols), for they cannot do evil, neither is it in them to do good." An Arab. poet says : '' I sing a man, on whom the sun never rose a day but he did good and did evil," i.e. to his friends and foes respectively. The persons referred to by the prophet say this "in their hearts." The saying differs little from the other, "There is no God" (Ps. xiv. 1), no living God who observes and interposes in the affairs of human life. Though in a different atmosphere of thought Renan expresses himself to the same effect : "it has, in fact, never been established by observa• tion that a superior being troubles himself, for a moral or an immoral purpose, with the things of nature or the affairs of mankind" {Hist. of Israel, ii. p. xi.).

13. The verse implies that the "search" (v. iz) is made by the foe under commission of the Lord ; the foe is in quest of spoil, but his acts are the Lord's "visitation" on the unbelieving.

They shall also buz"ld houses] and they shall build houses, but not inhabit them. The phrase is a common one signifying that they shall not enjoy the fruit of their labour; meaning, and the houses which they have built they shall not inhabit. Comp. Am. v. II; Mic. vi. 15; D~ut. xxviii. 30, 39; Is. !xv. 11, 22.

14-18. THE TERRORS OF THE DAY OF THE LORD,

The day of the Lord is described as a day of battle and assault upon the fenced cities, but also as a day of darkness and supernatural terrors. In Arabic the term "day" often means "battle-day," as the "day of Bedr," and this may have been its original application in Hebrew; cf. Is. ix. 4, "in the day of Midian." The day of the Lord is the day of His self-revelation to judge evil and bring His work of redemption among men to completion. On the one side His revelation of Himself fills men with terror and anguish, on the other side it is the cause of universal gladness, for the oppressions under which the world groaned come to an end and the reign of God begins : "The Lord is King I

II8 ZEPHANIAH, I.

14 The great day of the LORD is near, It is near, and hasteth greatly, Even the voice of the day of the LORD: The mighty man shall cry there bitterly.

•s That day is a day of wrath, A day of trouble and distress, A day of wasteness and desolation, A day of darkness and gloominess, A day of clouds and thick darkness,

(vv. 14, 15.

let the earth rejoice, let the multitude of the isles be glad ... for he cometh to rule the earth; he shall rule the world with righteousness, and the peoples with equity" (Ps. xcvii. r, xcviii. 9). Sometimes the terrors of the day of the Lord are represented as due to His manifesta­tion of Himself and the convulsions of nature that accompany His appearing," when he arises to shake terribly the earth" (Is. ii. 10-22); at other times, besides the supernatural gloom and terrors that surround Him when He appears, He is represented as using some terrible distant nation as the instrument by which He executes His judgment (Is. xiii., and the present passage). The judgment of the day of the Lord is a judgment on the known world, on Israel and the historical nations · lying within its horizon, and the nation that executes the judgment is some fierce and wild people emerging from the dark places of the earth lying beyond the confines of the known world. There is thus a certain inconsistency in the representation: though the judgment be universal the nation that executes it does not come within its scope.

14. The great day of the LORD is near] The day is called "great and terrible," Joel ii. 31; Mai. iv. 5, and is always represented as near, Is. xiii. 6; Joel ii. 1, 11 (see notes on v. 7).

Even tlu voice of the day] Rather as an exclamation: bark I the day of the Lord! or, the sound of the day of the Lord I

shaft cry there bitterly] lit. crieth out there-the scene being before the prophet's view. It is not necessary to take there in a temporal sense, then, a meaning not quite certain even in Prov. viii. 27 (cf. Judg. v. 11; Hos. x. 9; Ps. xiv. 5, lxvi. 6, cxxxiii. 3). As to the idea expressed comp. Is. xiii. 7, 8, "all hands shall be feeble and every heart of man shall melt; and they shall be dismayed." Jer. xxx. 5-7. With "crieth out bitterly" cf. Is. xxxiii. 7, "the ambassadors of peace weep bitterly."

15. a day of wratk] i.e. of the outpouring of the wrath of God. The effects of this wrath are then detailed : ( 1) trouble and distress ; ( 2) wasteness and desolation; (3) darkness and gloominess, clouds and thick darkness. The combination "trouble and distress" is found again Job xv. 24; cf. Is. xxx. 6; " wasteness" or devastation "and desolation," Job xxxviii. 27; and the phrase "a day of darkness," &c. Joel ii. 2. Cf. Is. xiii. 10; Am. v. 18. These supernatural terrors are not to be regarded as figures, they are realities ; the world is a human and moral world: nature is convulsed and dissolved in man's judgment,

vv. 16-18.] ZEPHAN IAH, I. I 19

A day of the trumpet and alarm 16

Against the fenced cities, and against the high towers. And I will bring distress upon men, that they shall walk 17

like blind men, Because they have sinned against the LORD : And their blood shall be poured out as dust, and their

flesh as the dung. Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver ,s

them In the day of the LoRD's wrath; But the whole land shall be devoured by the fire of his

jealousy:

and transfigured and glorified in his redemption. The first words of the Vulgate translation of this verse, D£es ir1Z dies ilia, were adopted by Thomas of Celano as the opening words of his splendid hymn on the Last J udgment. See Trench, Sacred Latin Poetry, p. -296.

16. Besides the supernatural terrors of the judgment there is the hostile assault which the supernatural terrors accomf,any.

A day ef the trumpet and alarm 1 The "trumpet ' was blown amidst the attack Uudg. vii. 19), as now martial music accompanies the advance. Am. ii. 2, "Moab shall die with tumult, with shouting, and with the sound of the trumpet." The word "alarm " here is that rendered "shouting," Am. i. 14, ii. -2, in accordance with its literal sense "to arms!" (Ital. all' arme). The "shouting" (tertl'ah), originally that of battle (Jer. iv. 19), became in later and more peaceful times the shout of the glad worshippers on the feast days (Ezr. iii. 1 r-13).

17, The distress, though at first outward, leads to inward perplexity, when men can find no outlet or way, and grope like the blind. The comparison is a frequent one to express perplexity and helplessness : Dent. xxviii. -29 "thou shalt grope at noonday, as the blind gropeth in darkness;" Is. !ix. 10. Here the perplexity is secondary, due to the paralysing calamities of the judgment; but in other cases by moral laws that operate invisibly moral confusion and perplexity invade the mind through sin. On the last part of the verse comp. Ps. lxxix. 3, lxxxiii. 10; Jer. ix. 22, xvi. 4. The word translated flesh (again only Job xx. 23) has been rendered by others, inwards, bowels (Frd. Delitzsch, Prolegomena, p. 193), but this sense is less probable.

18. The idea of the verse is illustrated in Prov. xi. 4, "Riches profit not in the day of wrath, but righteousness delivereth from death," cf. Ezek. vii. 19. The instruments also whom Jehovah employs to execute His judgments are sometimes animated by a loftiness of purpose and mind that despises mere earthly treasures : " Behold, I stir up the Medes against them, which regard not silver, and as for gold they delight not in it" (Is. xiii. r 7).

the whole land] Rather, the whole earth; eh. iii. 8. devoured by the fire of his jealousy] "Jealousy" means heat, and may

120 ZEPHANIAH, II. [v. I.

For he shall make even a speedy riddance of all them that dwell in the land.

2 Gather yourselves together, yea, gather together, 0 nation not desired ;

refer to any violent emotion, as military ardour (Is. xiii. 13); usually it means the strong reaction or self-assertion of the mind against an injury. If the term have this special sense here it is explained by the words "they have sinned against Jehovah" (v. 17). The figure of jealousy here is that of a fire devouring the whole earth. The words are repeated iii. 8.

make even a speedy riddance] lit. for an end, surely a terrible (or, sudden) destruction will he make (of) all the inhabiters oftheea,·th. Cf. Nah. i. 8. The chapter ends with announcing anew the universal de­struction threatened in vv. z, 3.

CHAP. II. 1-3. EXHORTATION TO MEN TO SEEK RIGHTEOUSNESS, IF PERCHANCE THEY MAY RE HID IN THE DAY OF THE LORD.

1. The prophet addresses himself to Judah. Gather yourselves together] The sense is obscure. The verb (ffeash)

is used of gathering straw, Ex. v. 12, sticks, Numb. xv. 3z; 1 Kings xvii. ro, 12, and does not otherwise occur. It is very doubtful if the word could be used in a metaphorical or mental sense, collect yourselves, that is, reflect, that ye may understand and repent. Rothstein (in Kautzsch's Bible) suggests a root ffellsh, and renders, Bow yourselves and be bowed, but the Arabic verb on which he bases this sense (,rdwua, 5 talpiwwasa) is a denominative from ffeaus "a bow," and does not mean to bow down but to be bow-shaped, or curved in the back. With more plausibility Ewald appealed to the Aramaic word signifying to be old (~dsh), assuming that the primary sense of the word was to be (become) withered, grey in colour. If this primary sense could be established his rendering turn pale ! i.e. be ashamed, might be accepted, as it would agree very well with the next clause. Budde proposes at once to read be ashamed (root, bJsh), but if this common word had originally stood in the text it is not easy to understand how the present difficult reading could have arisen. There is a similarly obscure word in Is. xlvi. 8.

0 nati/Jn not desired] R.V. 0 nati/Jn that hath no shame, marg. l/Jnging. In usage the Heh. word means I/J l/Jng, to desire greatly, but this sense is supposed to be secondary, the primary meaning being to be pale, whitish (hence the word silver in Heb., =" white money"). The radical meaning of most Heb. words signifying " to be ashamed" is to be (become) white, because to be ashamed meant, to be practically confounded, and terror or dismay was an element in the feeling.

2. The verse is probably in some disorder: the first two clauses can hardly present the original text, and the last two clauses look like dupli­cates of one another.

vv. 2, 3.J ZEPHANIAH, II. 121

Before the decree bring forth, before the day pass as the • chaff,

Before the fierce anger of the LORD come upon you, Before the day of the LORD'S anger come upon yon. Seek ye the LORD, all ye meek of the earth, 3 Which have wrought his judgment; Seek righteousness, seek meekness : It may be ye shall be hid in the day of the LORD'S anger.

Before the decree bring forth] The "decree" is God's purpose, the determined day of the Lord, and its "bringing forth " would mean, its giving birth to its contents or effects. This is rather unnatural language; a different construction would be more probable : Before the decree be broughtforlh, given birth to or revealed.

before the day pass as the chaff] Or, with R.V. marg., as a paren­thesis: (like chaff the day passeth by). But it is not the passing by of the day that is the point but its advance; and on the other hand the advance of chaff before the wind is not a usual or suitable figure.

Instead of chaff (mts) Sept. read flower (nts), rendering the first two clauses of the verse, Before ye become as the flower that passes away. The reading flower is no doubt an error ; with the substitution of "chaff" the passage would run: Before ye become like the chaff t/iat passes by. This is a simple reading; how far it reflects the original text must remain unce1iain.

The last clause, "day of the anger of the Lord," looks like an expla­nation of the more general words, "the fierceness of the anger of the Lord" in the previous clause. The Hexaplar Syriac translation indi­cates that the last clause was not original in the Sept. ; on the other hand, a corrector in the Sinaitic MS. (Swete, ~c. b) suggests omission of the preceding clause.

8. all ye meek of the earth] Though the exhortation to seek the Lord (Am. v. 6; Is. Iv. 6) be addressed· specially to the prophet's own people of Judah, there is no necessity for rendering, meek of the land. The "meek " are those humble before Jehovah, cf. iii. 1 z; they are further described as those that do His judgment or ordinance, that is, obey in life the statutes of the Lord. They are exhorted to renew, or to continue more importunately, their seeking of the Lord in face of the approaching day of trouble.

It may be ye shall be kid] The figure is that of finding refuge from a storm passing over, or a foe sweeping past. Is. xxvi. zo, " Come, my people, enter thou into thy chambers ; hide thyself for a little moment, until the indignation be overpast"; Job xiv. 13, "Oh that thou wouldst hide me in Sheol, that thou wouldst keep me secret until thy wrat_h. be past." Even amidst what looks like absolute certainty of tI;e.~1vme judgment, the prophets cannot renounce the idea of the poss1b1hty ~f the people's repenting and averting the impending wrath; cf. Jer. vn. 5-7, xxvi. 3, xxxvi. 3, 5; Am. v. 6, 15,

4

122 ZEPHANIAH, II. [vv. 4, 5.

For Gaza shall be forsaken, and Ashkelon a desolation: They shall drive out Ashdod at the noon day, and Ekron

shall be rooted up. Woe unto the inhabitants of the sea coast, the nation of

the Cherethites I The word of the LORD is against you; -0 Canaan, the land of the Philistines, I will even destroy thee, that there shall be no inhabitant.

4-15, THE JUDGMENT OF THE DAY OF THE LORD UPON THE NATIONS.

The nations on whom the impending judgment shall fall are: (1) the Philistines (vv. 4-7); (-i) Moab and Ammon (vv. 8-17); (3} Cush or the Ethiopians (v. u); and (4) Assyria(vv. 13-15). In relation to Judah the four nations named lay respectively west, east, south, and north. The passage appears to be written in the rhythm of the ~inak or Elegy, though in some verses the rhythm is imperfect. Comp. Ezekiel xix. Cambridge Bible, and more fully, Budde in the Zeitsck. fur Alttest. Wissmsck., 1882, to whom is due the merit of discovering the true nature of the Elegiac rhythm.

4. For Gaza shall be forsaken] The connecting word far appears to refer to the exhortation in v. 3: seek the Lord, it may be ye shall be hid, for many shall be overwhelmed. There is an assonance in the words " Gaza shall be forsaken" ('azza 'azflba) which cannot be reproduced. " Forsaken" is used probably as in Is. vi. u, vii. 16, in the sense of depopulated. There is a similar paronomasia in "Ekron shall be rooted up" ('e~ron te'iiffeer), which the Greek is able partially to imitate, 'AK1<a.pw11 lKp<)W81Jrrern,.

drive out Ashdod at the noon day] The expression at noon day occurs again Jer. xv. 8 (vi. 4 is different) and stands in parallelism with sud• denly in the next clause. It is also curious that in Jer. xv. 8, "a spoiler at noon day," the term spoiler (shoded) would form an assonance with Ashdod. The idea meant to be suggested by the phrase "at noon day" is not clear. The usual explanation, to the effect that, as the hot noon was the time when men rested in the East, an attack at such an hour would be unexpected, is rather puerile (1 Kings xx. 16). The idea might rather be that Ashdod shall be stormed by sheer and open force. See Appendix.

The Philistine towns are enumerated in their order from south to north. The first three lay near the coast, w bile Ekron was somewhat further inland.

5. the sea coast] Or, the region by the sea. The reference is to the strip of territory belonging to the Philistines; Ezek. xxv. 16. The Cherethites are the Philistines, or at least those along the coast (1 Sam. xxx. 14}. The word is supposed to have some relation lo Crete, from which it is believed the Philistines migrated into Palestine. In Am. ix. 7, Deut, ii. 23, Jer. xlvii. 4 the Philistines are said to have come from

vv. 6, 7.J ZEPHANIAH, II. r23

And the sea coast shall be dwellings and cottages for 6

shepherds, and folds for flocks. And the coast shall be for the remnant of the house of 1

Judah; They shall feed thereupon : In the houses of Ashkelon shall they lie down m the

evening: For the LORD their God shall visit them, and turn away

their captivity.

Caphtor, which may be Crete. In 2 Sam. viii. 18 the Cherethites and Pelethites (Philistines?) appear as mercenaries among David's house­hold troops. According to Josh. xiii. 3, 4 the territory of the Philistines was reckoned to the Canaanites • . 6, The text ofv. 6 is probably in disorder, as the rhythmical balance

of the verse is quite obscured. The Sept. also read differently, the words the sea coast being wanting in their text. These words should probably be omitted as a marginal explanation of it, and the verse read, and it (land of the Philistines, v. 5) shall be ....

dwellings and cottages for shepherds] R.V. pastures, with cottages, marg. or, caves. The word rendered "cottages" (k'roth) is obscure. Bochart, whom Keil follows, suggested that the word was infi,i. of the verb "to dig," and rendered ''for digging," supposing that the reference was to subterranean huts dug by the shepherds to escape the heat (hence R.V. marg., caves). The idea has no probability. The peculiar con­struction (which appears similar to that in Job xx. 17, the .floods, the brooks of honey) suggests that "dwellings" and "cottages" are mere variant expressions, having the same meaning. So Hitzig: shall be for mead{fWs of pastures for shepherds. The sense of pasture is seen, Is. xxx. z3, though the plur. is masc. Ps. !xv. 13, while in the present passage the word isfem. It is possible, indeed, that the word is a mere transcriptional duplicate of the preceding word, as the lettel"S forming the two words are frequently confused. The term, however, stood in the text of the Sept., who rendered it Crete, i.e. the country of the Cherethites: and Crete shall be a pasture (n'vath) of shepherds. Either the order of words was different in the text of the Sept., or they translated in entire disregard of Shemitic grammar. The verse with the necessary omissions may read :

And it shall be dwellings (or, pastures) for shepherds-and folds for .Hocks.

T. The promise of the surrounding countries to Israel as its posses­sion is more common in later writings; Obad. v. 19 ff.; Zech. ix. 7; but comp. already Am. ix. 12; 1l;. xi. 14; Jer. xlix. '2,

turn away their captivity] R. V. bring again their captivity. The sense of the expression is not quite certain. Others render : restore their prosperity (Job xiii. 10), or, turn their fortunes, Hos. vi. II ; Amos ix. r4. The phrase does not imply that the Exile had taken place.

124 ZEPHANIAH, lI.

s I have:heard the reproach of Moab, And the revilings of the children of Ammon, Whereby they have reproached my people, And magnified themselves against their border.

tvv.8,9.

9 Therefore as I live, saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel,

Surely Moab shall be as Sodom, and the children of Ammon as Gomorrah,

Even the breeding of nettles, and saltpits, and a perpetual desolation :

8-11. MOAB AND AMMON.

8. I have heard the reproach ef Moab] It is the Lord who speaks. The " reproach" or contempt of Moab is most likely that expressed in words, not that exhibited m insulting deeds; cf. Jer. xlviii. 27-29; Ezek. xxxv. 12. Is. xvi. 6, "We have heard of the pride of Moab, he is very proud ; ... the injuriousness of his boastings."

reviling-s of the children ef Ammon] These revilings seem also to denote spoken obloquy (Ezek. xxi. 28), though the term is also used of opprobrious deeds, Numb. xv. 30, Ezek. xx. 27. Comp. Ezek. xxv. 3, 6, 8, "Because thou saidst, Ahal against my sanctuary, when it was profaned."

Wliereby they have reproached my people] Rather: wherewith ... and they have ma.gni11.ed. The phrase have mag-nijied themselves, &c. is scarcely explanatory either of " reproach" or "revilings," but expresses an additional delinquency-they have presumptuously violated the border of Israel and seized his territory. The charge is an old one against Ammon: Am. i. 13, "They have ripped up the women with child of Gilead that they might enlarge their border"; Jer. xlix. 1, "Hath Israel no sons? hath he no heir? why theri doth Milcom possess Gad?" Moab also, whenever possible, overstepped what Israel regarded as its frontier and took possession of the territory of Reuben and Gad, as appears from the Moabite Stone. After Israel beyond Jordan was carried captive by Tiglath Pileser (B.c. 734), and especially after the fail of the northern kingdom (722), Moab and other peoples would naturally overflow the depopulated districts. For "their border" Sept. has" my borders"; cf. J er. xlviii. '26, 42, "he (Moab) hath magnified himself against the Lord."

9. J ehovah's oath by Himself, as I live, is rare in early writings, but very common in Ezekiel.

Moab shall be as Sodom] The vicinity of the two peoples or at least of Moab to the Dead Sea may have suggesred the threat that the fate of the cities of the plain shall overtake them.

the breeding (JI nettles] a possession of nettles, which overgrow un­cultivated places, Prov. xxiv. 31; Job xxx. 7; Is. xxxiv. 13.

and sa!tpits] These were common around the Dead Sea: Deut. xxix. 23; cf. Is. xiii. 19; J er. xlix. 18. The idea suggested is that of utter

VV. ID, I I.] ZEPHANIAH, II.

The residue of my people shall spoil them, And the remnant of my people shall possess them. This shall they have for their pride, ,o

Because they have reproached and magnified themselves against the people of the LORD of hosts.

The LORD will be terrible unto them: 11

For he will famish all the gods of the earth; And men shall worship him, every one from his place, Even all the isles of the heathen.

barrenness. To sow with salt was a symbolical act, signifying to doom to perpetual unfruitfulness and desolation (Judg. ix. 45). Ezek. xlvii. II · predicts that, though the waters of the Dead Sea shall be sweetened when Israel is finally restored, the miry places and marshes about it shall be used for salt.

shall spoil them] i.e. make a spoil of them, viz. Moab and Ammon. There is a certain inconsistency in the ve.se, which is not to be re­moved by drawing a distinction between the country of Moab and Ammon and the peoples themselves, and fancying that the country shall share the fate of Sodom, while the peoples become the servants of Israel (Hitzig). It is better to consider the prophet's predictions to be ideal, and to threaten two fates to Moab and Ammon, one, destruction like Sodom and Gomorrah, and the other, absorption by Israel.

remnant ef my people] As R. V., my nation. 10. Comp. v. 8, Is. xvi. 6, Jer. xlviii. 29. In the last clause Sept.

reads : magnified themselves against the Lord ef hosts, omitting people. Jer. xlviii. 26, 42,

11. will be terrible unto them] lit. over them. Mai. i. r4, "I am a great king, and my name terrible among the nations.'' For "terrible" Sept. reads, will appear.

he wilt famish all the gods] lit., as marg., make lean (Is. xvii. 4). Hitzig, followed by Keil, thinks the meaning to be, that by destroying all the nations the Lord will make lean or enfeeble all their gods, for the vigour of the god is proportionate to the robustness and power of the nation. This kind of reflection is not likely to have passed through the mind of the prophet, His idea appears to be that by terrible deeds Jehovah will make Himself known to the nations, who will fear Him alone, perceiving the impotency of their former gods; comp. Is. ii. ,io, xxx. '22, and Ezek. xxv. ff. The use of the term make lean in regard to gods is certainly strange.

every one from his place] i.e. each individual person, not each nation. The phrase "from his place" seems to mean, everyone where he dwells, the idea being that, without making pilgrimages to Jerusalem (Is. ii. 3; Zech. viii. 22, xiv. 16), the peoples shall worship Jehovah, every man in his own land (Mal. i. u). The prep. from might have a pregnant sense, each coming fi·om his place, but this meaning is decidedly less natural.

tl1e isles ef the heathen] The term " isles " appears to h:.we been

ZEPHANIAH, II. [vv. r2-J4.

n Ye Ethiopians also, ye shall be slain by my sword. 13 And he will stretch out his hand against the north, and

destroy Assyria ; And will make Nineveh a desolation, and dry like a

wilderness, •• And flocks shall lie down in the midst of her, all the

beasts of the nations : Both the cormorant and the bittern shall lodge in the

upper lintels of it;

applied to the island-like coasts of the Mediterranean, and then to have been used of distant countries in general, Is. xii. 1, lix. 18, Ezek. xxxix. 6.

12. THREAT AGAINST ETHIOPIA,

Ethiopia or Cush was the country lying south of Egypt. Stretching from Syene (Assouan} southward, it corresponded to Nubia and the modem Soudan. Its capital is supposed to have lain near the 4th Cataract, on the great western bend of the Nile, about midway between Abu Hamed and Old Donkola.

ye shall be slain] lit. are' the slain of my sword, Is. !xvi. 16, Comp. Jer. xxv. 33. The words are a prediction.

13-lCi. THREAT AGAINST ASSYRIA,

The passage naturally implies that the Assyrian empire had not yet fallen.

13. stretch out ht"s hand] See on i. 4. 14. all the beasts of the nations] Sept. all the beasts of the earth, as

the phrase usually runs (Gen. i. 24; Ps. lxxix. ,z), or beasts of the field. The phrase seems to stand in apposition to flocks, the idea of which it expands. The word "flocks" seems nowhere to be used of wild creatures, but always of those tended by the shepherd. The term "beasts" is generally used of wild creatures, but in Is. xlvi. r it is used of tame animals, and elsewhere of creatures in general. The term nation (here sing.) is used of locusts (Joel i. 6), just as" people" is used of the ants and conies (Prov. xxx. 25, 26), and many assume that it is so used here, rendering, al! kinds of animals in cnnuds (Keil, R.V. marg.). The con­struction is against such a sense, and there seems no reason for departing from the ordinary meaning of nation. Nineveh shall be a common pasture for every tribe of people. On the other hand, Wellhausen appears to take "beasts" in a figurative sense, rendering a motley medley of people, the reference being to the tribes who own the flocks. But though "beasts" be sometimes used figuratively of peoples, when the idea is to be expressed that they shall attack and devour another people (Is. lvi. 9), in a passage like the present such a sense is entirely unnatural.

cormorant and the bittern] R. V. pelican and porcupine. The first word is usually supposed to denote the pelican (Deut. xiv. 17; Is. xxxiv. 11;

V. I 5.] ZEPHANIAH, II. 127

Their voice shall sing in the windows; desolation shall be in the thresholds :

For he shall uncover the cedar work. This is the rejoicing city that dwelt carelessly, rs That said in her heart, I am, and there is none beside

me: How is she become a desolation, a place for beasts to lie

down in l Every one that passeth by her shall hiss, and wag his

hand.

Ps. cii. 6). Sept. renders the second "hedgehog"; by others it is sup­posed to mean the bittern (Tristram). For upper lintels, marg. more literally : chapiters (so R. V. ), that is, the carved tops of the pillars now flung to the ground, or of those still standing amidst the ruins.

Their voice shall sing] lit, a voice that singeth = ha,·k ! they sing-I The idea of "singing" is strange; Sept. takes the word in a more general sense of the cry of birds or wild creatures.

desolation shall be in the thresholds] Instead of " desolation," Sept. (with difference of one letter) reads ravens, a reading which many follow, Cf. Is. xxxiv. II,

uncover the udar work] The text is probably in disorder, The term "uncover" is that rendered rase to the foundation, Ps. cxxxvii. 7 (see on Hab. iii. 13). The supposed form rendered "cedar work" does not occur elsewhere. The slightest possible change in pointing would give her cedar, which might mean, her cedar work. The word, however, might possibly be some form of the verb to make lean (v. 1i), either 1 pers. impf., I will mdke her void and rase her, or with Aramaic spelling (as Is. !xiii. 3), 3 pers. perf., they shall make (lit. have made) her void and rase her, which is equivalent to the passive, she shall be made void, &c. But all this is little satisfactory.

15. A finah or elegy on Nineveh, the refoicing- city] R. V. the joyous city. there is none beside me] there is none else. She felt unique in her

power and splendour. The same words are used of herself by Babylon, Is. xlvii. 8.

shall hiss, and wag his hand] Expressions of scorn and hatred. Ezek. xxvii. 36; Lam. ii. 15, 16; Job xxvii. 23; Nab. iii. r9.

CH, Ill. 1-8, RENEWED THREAT AGAINST JERUSALEM IN PARTICULAR.

Ch. iii. returns to Jerusalem. The city is reproached as rebellious, polluted, and full of oppression (v. IJ; disobedient to God and neglectful of His word and of the lessons of His operations in the world of the nations ( v. 2). All classes within her are corrupt : her princes violent, her judges venal and greedy (v. 3), her prophets unstable and

128 ZEPHANIAH, III. [vv. 1-3.

3 Woe to her that is filthy and polluted, to the oppressing city!

• She obeyed not the voice ; she received not correction ; She trusted not in the LORD ; she drew not near to her

God. 3 Her princes within her are roaring lions ;

Her judges are evening wolves; They gnaw not the bones till the morrow.

false, and her priests profaners of what is holy and perverters of the Torah. (v. 4 ff.).

1. jiltky and polluted] As R.V., rebelli0118 and polluted. Her "pQllution" comes from bloodshed (Is. i. 15, "your hands are full of blood;" Ezek. xxiv. 9, "Woe to the bloody city"), but possibly also partly from other sins, cf. Is. iv. 4, "the filth of the daughters of Zion." The term "polluted" is specially connected with blood, Is. !ix. 3; Lam. iv. 14.

tke oppressing city] The word is used by Jeremiah of the sword, xlvi. 16. Cf. Is. i. 21, "How is the city that was faithful become an harlot ! Full of justice, righteousness lodging in her-but now mur­derers!"

2. She obeyed not the voice] i.e. the voice of God by the prophets. Jer. vii. 23, xxii. 21. ·

she received not correction] Or, instruction, Jer. v. 3. Comp. Jer. vii. 28, "This is the nation that obeyeth not the voice of the Lord, nor receiveth correction." Ch. xxxii. 33.

trusted not in tke LORD] Faith was always greatly insisted on by the prophets as the essential thing in religion; Is. vii. 9, "if ye will not believe ye shall not be established;" J er. xvii. 7, "Blessed is the man who trusteth in the Lord." Cf. Is. x. zo, xvii. 7, xxx. 18.

3. Every class does evil, each in its own way. A very full parallel is Ezek. xxii. 25-28 (in v. 25 read princes). The "princes" may be the royal house, or the magnates in whose hands lay the judicial and governing power. Ezek. describing the princes says, they are "like a roaring lion ravening the prey; they have devoured souls ; they have taken the treasure; they have made her widows many." The "judges" are compared to evening wolves (Hab. i. 8), less powerful than the lions but no less insatiable and murderous. Ezek. xxii. 2J, "wolves ravening the prey, to shed blood, to destroy souls, to get dishonest gain." Judicial corruption and murder are often complained ofby the prophets; Is. i. 23; Mic. iii. 1 I; cf. Jer. xxii. 17; Ezek. xxii. 12.

gnaw not the bones till the morrow] The term rendered "gnaw the bones" occurs Numb. xxiv. 8, where, however, the word "bones" is expressed; also Ezek. xxiii. 34, "thou shalt gnaw the sherds thereof." With this sense the clause might mean, evening wolves .that gnawed not (the) bones in the morning; the idea being that the wolves having had no prey in the morning were keen from hunger and ferocious in the evening. Others suppose the word to be different from that in

vv. 4, 5.] ZEPHANIAH, III. 129

Her prophets arc light and treacherous persons : 4

Her priests have polluted the sanctuary, they have done violence to the law.

The just LoRD is in the midst thereof; he will not do s iniquity:

Numb. xxiv. 8, and to be allied to an Aramaic root signifying to cut off (a part), hence to reserve, leave over; and render, evening wolves that leave nothing over till the morning,-their insatiable voracity devouring everything, hide and hair, at once. It must be acknowledged that this sense of leave over is somewhat conjectural.

4. Her prophets are light] Both the idea and the expression find a parallel in Jer. xxiii. 32, "I am against them that prophesy false dreams, and cause my people to err by their lies, and ·by their light• ness" (R.V. vain boasting); cf. Lam. ii. 14; Ezek. xxii. 28. The figure expressed by 11 light" is that of the boiling over of water (Gen. xlix. 4; Judg. ix. 4), and the word characterizes the prophets as vapourers, extravagant and arrogant in their own imaginations and conceits, their minds lacking the restraint of the word of God under which the true prophets spoke.

treacherous persons] lit. men of treacheries, or, perfidiousnesses. The precise sense is not clear. The verb to deal treacherously is often used of falsehood or perfidy toward God; J er. iii. 20, "as a wife dealeth treacherously against her husband so have ye dealt treacherously against me O house of Israel;" Hos. vi. 7. The idea, however, that the prophets dealt unfaithfully with God iri giving out the imaginations of their own heart as His word to men (Hitzig), is rather strained. In the ethical writings of the Old Testament, such as the Proverbs, 11 treacherous dealer" is often. parallel to "wicked" (Prov. ii. 22, xi. 6, xxi. 18; cf. Hab. i. 13), and means one who acts untruly or wrongfully in regard to moral law. Jeremiah frequently taxes the prophets of his day with immoral conduct (xxiii. 14, xx1x. 23).

have polluted the sanctuary] Rather: have profaned that which is holy. Ezek. xxii. z6 offers a complete parallel : " Her priests have done violence to my law, and have profaned mine holy things; they have put no difference between the holy and profane, between the clean and the unclean." The last words explain at least one way of doing 11 violence" or wrong to the law. Jer. ii. 8 makes similar charges against the various official classes. ·

(I. All these wrongs they practise undeterred and uninstructed by the presence and operations of the righteous Lord in the midst of them.

The just LORD is] Rather: The LORD 1B righteous in the midst of her. Jehovah dwells in the midst of Jerusalem and is seen to be righteous both by His word and works, but the people are insensible and receive no impression from His presence and nature. Jer. xi. 20.

wi(lnot do iniquity] Or, doeth no unrighteousness; Deut. xxxii. 4.

N. H. Z, 9

130 ZEPHANIAH, III. [vv. 6, 7.

Every morning doth he bring his judgment to light, he faileth not ;

But the unjust knoweth no shame. 6 I have cut off the nations: their towers are desolate;

I made their streets waste, that none passeth by : Their cities are destroyed, so that there is no man, that

there is none inhabitant. 1 I said, Surely thou wilt fear me, thou wilt receive instruc­

tion; So their dwelling should not be cut off, howsoever I

punished them :

Every morning ... his judgment to light] Morning by morning, i.e. every morning, constantly, He brings His just judgment or justice to light; His moral rule is as constant and as visible as the material law that brings in the dawn. Cf. Hos. vi. 5 (read : my judgment goeth forth like the light).

the unjust knowcth no shame] The unrighteous, untouched by the righteousness of God and receiving no impression from His rule, though exercised before his eyes, pursues his own unrighteous way with no feeling of shame. Jer. iii. 3, vi. 15, viii. 11.

6, Verse 6 continues the preceding: Jehovah's righteous rule is exercised not only in. the midst of Israel itself but also among the nations without. His judgments among the nations were also meant for Israel's instruction, and should have been laid to heart (v. 7).

I have cut off the nations] Rather: l have cut off' nations. No particular nations are named ; history is foll of God's judgments on the peoples for their unrighteousness, the Flood, the overthrow of Sodom, the destruction of Samaria, and the like.

I made their streets] have ma.de ; the examples or some of them are recent. The term "streets" might mean outplaces, territories. On the language of the verse comp. Jer. xxxiii. 10.

'1, God's purpose in these judgments on the nations was that Israel should take warning from them and receive instruction.

I said] Or, I thought; Jer. iii. 19. For their dwelling read her dwelling.

howsoever I punished theml Perhaps: acco1·ding to all tkat I have appointed·concerning her, The words seem to explain the preceding "that her dwelling should not be cut off." This destruction of her place of abode is what the Lord has appointed for her. His desire and hope was that she would receive instruction so that her dwelling-place should remain for ever. Instead of" her dwelling-place" Sept. reads "from her eyes" (with a difference of one letter). So Wellhausen: she will receive instruction, and that wkick I have commanded ker will never be cut off (fade) from her sight, i.e. she will continually keep before her eyes God's commandments, For the meaning "I have

v. 8.] ZEPHANIAH, III. 131

But they rose early, and corrupted all their doings.

Therefore wait ye upon me, saith the LORD, a Until the day that I rise up to the prey: For my determination is to gather the nations, That I may assemble the kingdoms, To pour upon them mine indignation, even all my fierce

anger: For all the earth shall be devoured with the fire of my

jealousy.

commanded her" instead of "appointed concerning her" he cites Job xxxvi. '23; '2 Chron. xxxvi. '23; Ezr. i. 2.

rose early, and corrupted] i.e. corrupted with eagerness. The phrase is a favourite one with Jeremiah, e.g. vii. 13.

8. Therefore wait ye upon me] As R.V. for me, the words being further explained in the clause: for the day that I rise up, &c. The expression wai't for me is not ironical (Hitz.), though it might be used in a threatening sense, like Am. iv. n, '' prepare to meet thy God, 0 Israel." Most probably, however, though the verse contains anew the announce­ment of the coming universal judgment (eh. i. '2 ff.), the promise of iii. 9-13 is already in the prophet's mind. The judgment is not the last act of the drama; behind the storm of universal judgment rises clear the day of universal salvation. The exhortation to wait for Jehovah is parallel to eh. ii. 1-3.

Unti1 tke day that I rise up to tke prey] for the day, continuing for me. If this meaning be accepted, the impending judgment of God is expressed figuratively as a hostile attack by Him, and the question what is meant by the "prey " must not be asked : the " prey " is merely part of the metaphor. Both Sept. and Syr., however, interpreted, "rise up far a witness" (reading le'Pd for Heb. le'ad), and this sense is followed by many commentators. Comp. Mic. i. 2, "let the Lord God be witness against you;" Ps. I. 7; Mai. iii. 5. On the expression "rise up" in reference to a witness cf. Ps. xxvii. 12, xxxv. II; Dent. xix. 15; Job xvi. 8.

to gather the nations] It is not implied that the nations shall be gathered to Jerusalem to be judged, as in later writings, e.g. Joel iii. •2; Is. !xvi. 18; Zech. xiv. '2, rz ff.; the "gathering" merely expresses the idea that they shall be universally and simultaneously judged. The judgment is one embracing the whole earth, as eh. i. 18, and falls on Israel as well as on the nations.

9-13. THE CONVERSION OF THE NATIONS AND OF ISRAEL,

Though v. 8 describes the universal judgment, it is closely con­nected with vv. 9-13. The judgment is not an end in itself; the conversion of the nations follows upon the revelation of Jehovah in judgmeut (eh. ii. r r ; cf. Is. !xvi. r8, 19). Vv. 9, 10 speak of .the nations, vv. 11-13 of Israel.

132 ZEPHANIAH, III. [vv. 9, IO,

9 For then will I turn to the people a pure language, That they may all call upon the name of the LORD, To serve him wi'th one consent.

10 From beyond the rivers of Ethiopia My suppliants, even the daughter of my dispersed, shall

bring mine offering.

9. Fortkm ... people a pure language] the peoples a pure lip. The term lip often means "language" ( Gen. xi, r ), but here it seems rather to denote the organ of speech. Comp. Is. vi. 5, 7, "I am a man of unclean lips .. .lo, this hath touched thy lips, and thine iniquity shall depart." The construction is condensed, and the meaning is, then will I tum to the peoples their lip into a pure lip. Their lips were unclean either generally from their inward sinfulness or especially from their taking the names of their false gods upon them (Ps. xvi. 4; Hos. ii, 19). With purified lips they shall fitly call upon the name of the Lord.

serve him with one consent] lit. with one shoulder, or, back. The Sept., under one yoke, probably rightly interprets the figure, which is that of animals labouring together with a single yoke laid over their shoulders in common. On the general sense comp. Jer. xxxii. 39; Ezek. xi. 19, 20.

10, The verse is obscure on account of the uncertain meaning of several expressions in it. Its general sense is that the heathen nations, even those most distant, shall do homage to Jehovah and present offerings to Him. Jeremiah already predicts the conversion of the nations (iii. 17, xvi. 19).

From beyond the rivers] This meaning is possible, but the usual sense would be: beyond tke rivers-in answer to the question wkere, not, wkence (Is. xviii. 1). On Ethiopia or Cush see on eh. ii. 12.

My suppliants] The word does not occur again in this sense, though a verb to supplicate, from which it might be derived, is not uncommon (Gen. xxv. 111). In the sing. the word occurs Ezek. viii. II in the sense of vapour or odour (R. V.) of incense, and this sense, being parallel to "mine offering," might be adopted here.

even the daug-kter of my dispersed] Phrases like " daughter of Zion " (v. 14), of Babylon (Ps. cxxxyii. 8), of Edom {Lam. iv. 21), signify the city or country named with its inhabitants. There is always in such phrases the name of a place, and this suggests that under the word '' my dispersed" (pt2tsat) there lurks some proper name. Ewald suggested Put, which is often named in connexion with Cush (cf. on Nah. iii. 9). '' The daughter of Put" would then be parallel to "beyond the rivers of Cush." Others have assumed that somewhat after the analogy of " daughter of Zion " in the sense of Zion with those inhabiting it, " the daughter of my dispersed" might mean tkose composing- {comprised in) my dispersed. "My dispersed" must certainly refer to ,Jews ; the view of Hitzig that they are the same as "those that escape' of the Gentiles and carry tidings of the greatness of Jehovah to all nations (Is. !xvi. rS, r9), has no probability. The general meaning of the verse would be

vv. ll, 12.] ZEPHANIAH, III. 133

In that day shalt thou not be ashamed for all thy doings, n

Wherein thou hast transgressed against me : For then I will take away out of the midst of thee them

that rejoice in thy pride, And thou shalt no more be haughty because of my holy

mountain. I will also leave in the midst of thee an afflicted and 12

poor people,

that the most distant nations would bring back God's dispersed people the Jews as an offering to Him {Is. !xvi. -zo): Froni beyond the rivers of Cush shall they bring my suppliants, even the daughter ef my dispersed as mine offering. The term " suppliants " seems unnatural in the con­nexion. After all, the other sense appears at least equally probable: Beyond the rivers ef Cush they shall offer me incense, the daughter ef [Put] shall bring me an offering, the reference being to the service of Jehovah by all the nations. Comp. Is. xviii. 7, xlv. 14; Ps. lxxii. ro.

11. In that day shall thou not be ashamed] The common expression "in that day" refers to the general period spoken of in the context, here the period after the judgment, when the people of God is saved and restored. To be ashamed might mean either to feel shame for, or to bear the shame of, former doings. The first sense is the more ex­pressive. The former things have so completely passed away that they are forgotten, and no recollection of them calls up a blush of shame (Is. !iv. 4, )xv. 16). Cf. Ezek. xxxix. 26.

them that re.Joice in thy pride] R. V. thy proudly exulting ones. In Is. xiii. 3 the phrase is used of J ehovah's warriors, the Medes, filled with martial pride and exulting in battle; here it has a less dignified sense, being used of the self-confident and arrogant classes in Israel, whether prophets (v. 4) or politicians, the people of whom Am. vi. 13 speaks: " which rejoice in a thing of nought, which say, Have we not taken to us horns by our own strength?" In the prophets religion is trust in Jehovah, and irreligion or sin is insensibility to His majesty and rule, and consequent pride and self-exaltation.

tkou sha!t no more be haug}#y] Is. iii. 16, " Because the daughters of Zion are haughty and walk with stretched forth necks." Jer. xiii. 15.

because ef my holy mountain] on my, &c. 12. I will also leave] As R.V., But I will leave. an ajjlicted and poor people] Comp. Is. xiv. 32, "The Lord hath

founded Zion, and in her shall the afflicted of his people take refuge." The rendering '' afflicted," in its modern sense, is too strong ; compare the last words of v. 13. The term is used of the Messiah, Zech. ix. 9, " lowly and riding upon an ass " ; camp. Is. !xvi. -z, "him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and tremhleth at my word," where the term seems used in a moral or religious sense. "Afflicted " does not mean "in distress," but is the opposite of powerful (Hab. iii. 14), or haughty (Zeph. iii. I r).

134 ZEPHANIAH, III. [vv. 13-15.

And they shall trust in the name of the LORD. ,3 The remnant of Israel shall not do iniquity, nor speak

lies; Neither shall a deceitful tongue be found in their

mouth: For they shall feed and lie down, and none shall make

them afraid.

14 Sing, 0 daughter of Zion; shout, 0 Israel; Be glad and rejoice with all the heart, 0 daughter of

Jerusalem. •s The LORD hath taken away thy judgments, he bath cast

out thine enemy:

trust in the name of the LORD] This expresses the characteristic of the lowly and poor people left in Zion. Trust in the Lord is the essential mark of true religion. Comp. the passages cited on v. 2.

13. The remnant of Israel] After the great judgment of the day of the Lord, only a remnant shall be left (Joel ii. 28-32). The idea that only a remnant shall be saved is common to all the prophets; Isaiah called his son Shear-jashub, "a remnant shall turn," making him a living sign to king (Is. vii. 3) and people of his conviction that a great judgment was impending. Cf. Is. x. 21-23.

shall not do iniquity] Comp. v. 5, where it is said of the Lord "he doeth no iniquity." In those days the people shall be like their God. His Spirit within them shall rule,their life: Ezek. xxxvi. 25-27.

For they shall fled] The figure is the very common one of flocks feeding and lying down in complete security. Cf. Is. xvii. 2 ; Ezek. xxxiv. 25, '28. The word/or does not assign their perfect security from all trouble without as the reason for the righteousness that shall prevail within, though of course security from all external evils would permit and help the peaceable expansion of the community and the growth of religious life among them. The words introduced by for rather restate under another aspect the peaceful and happy condition of the people, already described in vv. 12, 13 a.

14-20. THE JOY OF THE REDEEMED PEOPLE IN THE LORD'S PRESENCE AMONG THEM.

The prophet looks forward to the time when all Zion's affiictions shall be over, when she shall be redeemed and all her captive children restored, when the end contemplated by the Covenant, and towards which her history has been moving, even the Lord's full presence in the midst of her, shall have been reached. In those days Zion shall sing and shout for joy, for her name shall be The Lord is there (Ezek. xlviii. 35}.

14. Sing, 0 daughter of Zion] Is. !iv. 1.

15. taken away thy judgments] The prophet transports himself ancl

vv. t6-- 19.] ZEPHANIAH, III. 135

The king of Israel, even the LORD, is m the midst of thee:

Thou shalt not see evil any more. In that day it shall be said to Jerusalem, Fear thou not: ,6

And to Zion, Let not thine hands be slack. The LORD thy God in the midst of thee is mighty ; •1

He will save, he will rejoice over thee with joy ; He will rest in his love, he will joy over thee with singing. I will gather them that are sorrowful for the solemn ,s

assembly, who are of thee, To whom the reproach of it was a burden. Behold, a't that time I wz?l undo all that afflict thee : 19

And I will save her that halteth,

his people forward into the time of their final rest~ration and blessed• ness. The "judgments" of Zion are all those that have fallen on her during her chequered history; her warfare is accomplished, her iniquity pardoned (Is. xl. 2).

The king ef Imul] Is. xli. 2I, "produce your cause, saith the Lord, bring forth your strong reasons, saith the King of Jacob." Comp. Is. vi. 5, xliv. 6.

16. Let not thine hands be slack] that is, hang down, in terror or paralysis. Jer. vi. z4; Heh. xii. 12.

17. Render with R.V., The LORD thy God ls in the midst of thee, a mighty one Who w1ll save.

he will rejoice over thee] Comp. Is. !xii. 5, lxv. 19. He will rest in his loz•e] Or, he will be silent. The words seem to

mean that God's love will be so strong and deep as to hush motion or speech; it will be a silent ecstasy. The Sept. renderiug, he will renew thee (reading d for r), offers no acceptable alternative.

18. The language is very obscure. Perhaps: I will gather (lit. have gathered) those sorrowing far away .from the solemn assembly, who are of thee (belong to thee), thou on whom reproach lay heavy. The term "sorrowing" is found Lam. i. 4. The sense, those removed away from the solemn assembly, might be supported by 2 Sam. xx. 13. The reference in any case is to the dispersed among the nations, far from the sanctuary and the feasts. The " reproach" is just that arising from the national calamities and humiliation. Is. !iv. 4, "the reproach of thy widow­hood (the time of exile) shalt thou remember no more."

19. I will undo all that ajflict thee] As R.V., I w1ll deal with all. I will save her that halteth] The people are spoken of under the

metaphor of a flock, in which are some that are lame, and to which belong some that have been driven away. Hence the use of the fem. gender. Comp. Ezek. xxxiv. 16, "I will seek that which was lost, and will bring back again that which was driven away." Mic. iv. 6, 7·

136 ZEPHANIAH, III.

And gather her that was driven out ; And I will get them praise and fame In every land where they have been put to shame.

[v. 20.

20 At that time will I bring you again, even in the time that I gather you :

For I will make you a name and a praise among all people of the earth,

When I turn back your captivity before your eyes, saith the LORD.

I will get them praise] As R.V., I will make them (to be) a praise and a. name. J er. xxxiii. 9, "and this city shall be to me for a name of joy, for a praise and for a glory before all the nations of the earth, which shall hear all the good that I do unto them." Cf. J er. xiii. 11. The precise sense is not clear. In the passages in Jer. the people, being righteous and blessed, are the s1Jurce of praise and renown to Jehovah, whose people they are. But the meaning might be that the people them­selves are the object of praise by the nations; Is. lxi. 9, lxii. 7. Both ideas are elsewhere expressed; Jehovah bestows His glory on Israel (Is. lx. '2), and this glory is reflected back upon Him, and He is glori­fied in Israel (Is. xliv. 23, xlix. 3, Ix. '2r, lxi. 3).

In every land ... put to shame] A.V. marg., Heh. (every land) of their shame. R. V. renders : whose shame hath been in all the earth. Both renderings are possible, but both are unnatural. R.V. lays an unnatural emphasis upon the pronoun: " I will make them a praise and a name, whose shame," &c., whereas "them" seems rather to refer back to "her that halteth" and "her that was driven away," or, to the people generally. On the other hand, the construction assumed by A. V. is ungrammatical, although occasional instances of it appear. The Sept. rightly felt that the natural sense of the passage was : and I will make them a praise and a name in all the earth (v. '20), and so rendered. The Heh. word their shame, still remaining undisposed of in this rendering, the Sept. attached to the next verse: and they shall be ashamed at that time. This is quite unsatisfactory. But the analogy of v. '20, a name and a praise among all the peoples of the earth, suggests that the expres­sion their shame is not original.

20. even in the time that I gather you] The sense is probably as R.V., and a.t that time will I gather you, though the language of the original is very anomalous.

among all people of the earth] a.11 the peoples of the earth. tum back your captivity] See on ii. 7. before your eyes] The deliverance shall not be delayed till their eyes

are closed and be seen only by their children. Their own eyes shall see it. "This generation shall not pass away till all be fulfilled." Is. Iii. 8.

APPENDIX.

NoTE r. THE FALL OF NINEVEH.

SINCE the Introductions to Nahum and Habakkuk were in print, some further light has been cast upon the circumstances of the fall of Nineveh by the publication of an inscription of Nabonidus, the last king of Babylon. The stele of Nabonidus, which is now in the Con­stantinople Museum, was discovered near Hilleh (Babylon), and has been described by Schei! in the Recueil de Travaux &c., published under the direction of Maspero, xviii., r896; by Rev, C. H. W. Johns, Queens' College, Cambridge, in Expository Tl"mes, r896; and most recently by L. Messerschmidt in Mitt!uilungen der Vorderasiatischen Gesellschaft, part i., 1896. The two points of interest are the date of the fall of Nineveh, and the part which the Babylonians under Nabo­polassar took in its overthrow.

The inscription leaves the precise date of the fall of the city still somewh:i.t uncertain. In col. x. of the inscription Nabonidus states that the temple of Sin, the moon-god, in Harran, had been destroyed by the Ummanmanda (Medes); that in the beginning of his reign he was exhorted in a dream to restore it, and that he accomplished its restoration in his third year, 54 years after it had been destroyed. As the reign of Nabonidus began in 555 B.C., his third year would be 553, and thus the destruction of the temple of Sin would have occurred B.c. 607. It is uncertain, however, whether the attack on Harran, resulting in the destruction of the temple, preceded the capture of Nineveh or followed it, or possibly occurred in the same year, and consequently the approximate date for the fall of Nineveh, 608-6, must still be left. The relation of the attack on Harran to the capture of Nineveh may yet be further elucidated.

With regard to those who actually overthrew Nineveh the inscription is more explicit. If col. ii. refers to the final destruction of the city, as it appears to do, those who accomplished it were the Ummanmanda (Medes) alone, the Babylonians having no part in it. In this respect the statement of Herodotus is confirmed. It may perhaps be inferr~d that a condition of hostilities existed between Babylon and Assyria. The inscription states that Marduk called in the ~m.m3;n_manda to the aid of Nabopolassar, and in order to avenge the md1gn1!1es offered to

APPENDIX.

himself at a former time by , Sennacherib-the reference in the last words being to Sennacherib's destruction of Babylon and his de­portation of Marduk to Assyria. It may not be quite easy to trans­late this statement about Marduk's intervention and the aid to N abopolassar into the actual movements of events, and di~cover the real relations of the Medes and Babylonians. Messerschmidt, relying -0n some other inscriptions, infers that the Babylonian army was operating in Mesopotamia, and that, owing to reverses inflicted by the Assyrians, the help of the Medes was invoked. These combina­tions of Messerschmidt and the whole question will no doubt be folly discussed by competent Assyrian scholars. It appears from the in­scription that a number of cities in north Babylonia (Accad) took the part of Assyria against Babylon. A condition of friction between Babylon and Assyria was nothing uncommon, but it may now be considered as a point ascertained that the Babylonians took no actual part in the overthrow of Nineveh. It is a fact worth recalling in con­nexion '1'11th the discussion of this question that in 1889 Winckler ex• pressed the opinion that any direct participation of the Babylonians in the destruction of Nineveh was very improbable, because such an act would have been regarded as a "misdeed," something of the nature of a sacrilege, just as Sennacherib's destruction of Babylon was regarded. Winckler's feeling is confirmed by the present inscription, in which the Babylonian king is exonerated of having had any part in the destruction of the temples of the gods, and (if the passage be rightly understood) even made to deprecate the violent wrath of Marduk and the exces sive vengeance he had taken.

The relations of Babylon and Assyria and the course of events suggested by the inscription can hardly be said to give any additional plausibility to the interpretation of Habakkuk advocated with so much acuteness and learning by Prof. Budde (Introd. to Hab., p. 50 ff.).

It may be inferred from the stele of Nabonidus that Ummanmanda is not an ethnological name, and of itself gives no light regarding the race or nationality of the conquerors of Nineveh ; the name is rather geographical, and equivalent generally to "northern peoples," including Medes, Scythians &c. When, therefore, Astyages is said to be of the Ummanmanda, this does not imply a strictly Scythian origin, and the remark regarding him, p. 15, founded on previous statements of Assyrian scholars (Winckler, Untersuch., p. rz4 ff., Billerb. -J erem., p. 96 note, with references), has to be modified. See now Winckler's revisal of his former opinion, Messerschmidt, p. 71 ff. In a communi­cation received from Mr C. H. W. Johns, before the publication of Messerschmidt's work, the true signification of the expression Umman. manda was clearly indicated.

APPENDIX. 139

NOTE '2, ON ZEPH, ii. 4.

The expression, Zeph. ii. 4, "they shall drive out Ashdod at the noon day," occurring again Jer. xv. 8, is obscure. In an extract from Esar­haddon's Senjirli inscription given in Winckler's Altorient. Untersuck., p. 100, the Assyrian king says, " Memphis, his capital, I took ina ml­kit Dml," which Winckler renders, bis zu der Mitte des Tages. The similarity of the expression to the Heb., and also its use in speaking of the capture of a city, suggested that the phrase might be common to the two languages, and have the same meaning in both. Through the kindness of Principal Whitehouse I learn that Schrader in his Mono• graph on the Senjirli inscription reads the words ina ml-ski! Omi, which he would render in tke kalf of the day, or, by midday. The phrase would thus express the rapidity with which, or the short time within which, Memphis was taken. This general sense is suitable both in Zeph. ii. 4 and in Jer. xv. 8. In the latter passage "suddenly" is parallel to "at noon day." Somewhat similar is the language Job iv. 10, "from a morning to an evening they are destroyed," i.e. in the briefest space of time; cf. Is. xxxviii. I '2, More doubtful perhaps is Moab. Stone, l. 15, 16, "and I fought against it from the break of dawn until noon; and I took it."

INDEX.

Abaddon, 77 . afflicted. in the sense of weak and humble,

9-i, 1 33 alphabetical arrangement of Nah. i., 19,

20 Ammon, 99, Io2, 12-4 arrows, God's, His lightnings, 89 Ashdod, 122, Appendix Ashkelan, 122

Ass.urbampal, 13, 15, 16,. 18; magna­nimity of, :37;. his conquest of Thebes (No Amon), 4r, 7I

Assur-etir-ilani, successor of Assurbani­pal, I81 53 note

Assyria, 1:51 16, I7, 21, 4-r, 97, 126, Ap­pendix

Assyrians1 supposed reference to in Hab., 50 ff.; tneir crueltyJ 37; modes of war­fare, 3,; threatened by Zeph., 126

Assyrian court, supposed debaucheries of, 28

Astyages, r 5, Appendix

Baal, use.s of the word, 111; remnant of, 97, III

Babylon, 15 1 16, 71 Baethgen, quoted, 9r bars of Nineveh, frontier and other fort-

resses, -4.-2 beasts of th-e nationsJ 126 besiegers of Nineveh, described, 20, 30ft: Bickell, quoted, 18, 201 26, 29 BiHerbeck•Jeremias, quoted, 21, 31, 331

4I Bit Yakin, 71 bittern, 126, 127 bloody city (Nineveh), 20, 37 ff.; cf. 128

(Jerusalem) Bochart, quoted, 123 bottle, 81 brickmould, n, 42 Budde, quoted, 1-00, 120, 122; his view

of Habakkuk, 50 ff. Buhl, quoted, 27

Canaan, 116; see merchants cankerworm, 42 Capemaurn, the village of Nahum, 12

Caphtor, 123

captives of North Israel, where located, 9, JO

Carchemish, :9, 53 chaff, figure from, 121

Chaldeans, 15, 46 ff., 68, 72-74; his• torical sketch of, 71; five woes against, 77-82

chariots, 31, 32 Chemarims~ 11:r

Cherethites, 122, 123 conversion of the nations, 125, 131 ff. cormorant, 1261 :i.27

cottages, 123

Crete, 12z

criticism (subjective), principles of, 100; uncertainty of, 621 63

Cush (Ethiopia), 98, 99, 126, 132 Cush."UJ, 87 Cyaxares, r5-:r7, 56 Cyrus, 71

day of the Lord, 97, 981 104, I:05, 109 ff., IIJ ff., II7 ff.

day of trouble, 58, 59, 92, 93 deep, 89 defence, 33 ; see sokek defences of Nineveh, 201 33, 34:1 41 ff. Delitz~h, Frd., quoted, 9~ I19

den of lions (Nineveh}, destruction of, zo, 36, 37

Dies irae dies il!a, 119 dispersed, in phrase ff my dispersed,'' 132,

'33 Driver, 100

drunkenness, figure for stupefaction caused by calamity., 41

Edom, 102

Egypt, 98 ; see Scliwally Ekron, play on word, 122

14z INDEX.

Elkosh, birthplace of Nahum, identifi­cation of, 9j view of Jerome, 12; view of Epiphamus, 12, 13;. Elkoshite, 9 ff.

end, utter, of enemies of J chovab, 201 26ff., l20

Ethiopia, see Cush Ewald, 16, 72, Sg, 120J 112 excellency of Jacob, 30 Exodus, the, 8 3 ff.

faith, in prophets the principle of tnie religion, 1.28, 134

faithfulness, the principle oflife, 75, 76 figs, ripe, figure for fortresses, 201 4-i fish gate, situation of, 115 flock, figure for people of God, I34, z35 Frohnmeyer, referred to, 18

gates, of the land, 41, 4z; see river gates Gaza, play an word,. 122

Gesenius, quoted, 70 Giesebrecht, quoted, 50 God, the avenging1 wrath of, 20 1 23, 241

26; great in power, 24; Heb. view of His direct causation of all things, 66

good or evil, to do, meaning of the phrase, 117

Gog, 98 grasshoppers, see locusts Gunkel, referred to, 19

Habakkuk, meaning of name, 45; tradi­tions regarding him and the date at which he lived, 45, 46; difficulties in interpreting his prophecy, 46-55; in• tegrity of the prophecy, 55-59 ; con• tents of the prophecy, ec:9-61; moral~ problems raised in it similar to tho~e of the Wisdom, 59; the prophet's problem and its answer, 47, 4~; his complaint to God, 65--671 and its answer, 67-?I; his remonstrance with God regard­ing His -providence, 71-74, and the answer to it, 74-77; his woes upon the Chaldeans, 77 ft:; his prayer, 83 ff.; his anticipation of ways of thinking prevalent in exile and post-exile periods, 62; his style, 6r

harlot, see whoredom Herodotus, quoted, 15, 18, 53, 74, Ap­

pendix H1tzig,. quoted, 39, 56, 79, no, n6,

123, 125, 129~ 131, 1:32

Holy One, a proper name, 85 host of heaven, II2

humanity in Heb. prophecy, 21

Huzzab, u, 34, 35

Ibn Al,mar, quoted, 77 idolatry, view of prophets regarding, S7 Israel, place of in Nab., u, 17, 30; sin

of~ 48, 49; righteousness of, 52; final r~demption of. 83, 133-136; see cap­tives

Jebel Mukrab, 85 , Jehovah, His wrath, vengeance, jealousy,

goodness, &c., 23, 24, 120; His dght­eousness, 12-9:ff.: He is from everlast• ing, 71, 72; anger against Nineveh, 26; the Chaldeans His instruments, 48, 49; His II workt" 84; revelation of Himself, 85 ff.; umversalistic concep­tion of Jehovah in Nab. and Hab., 6r, fu; see ,Day of the Lord; Lord Gon

J eremia!t,J contrasted with Nahum, 21; with ttabakkuk, 6., 63; see Zepha­niah

Jerome, quoted, 12

Jerusalem, 102, 103, 11 I ff,, 127 ff. Josiah, 17; bis age, g6; his children,

114; his Reform, g6, 97 Judah, place of in Nah., n; in Zeph.,

no, 120; a vassal of Assyria, 17 judgment. purpose of God's, 100; univer.

sality of, 104, 105, 109 ff.; see Day of the Lord

Kasdim, 71; see Chaldeans if:as.Ji (root), 120

Kautzsch, quoted, 27; his Bible, 120 keeJ?eth at home, meaning of phrase, 77 Keilt quoted, III, 123, 125, 126 /inak, or elegy, 122, 127 king's children, 114 Kirkpatrick, Doclriw, of the Prophets,

94t 1 07 Kucnen, quoted, 161 17, 50, 56-581 100

law, see tM"ak Layard, quoted, 10, 11, 31, 32, 33, 37, 42 lay bare, or, raset 91, 127 leap over the threshold, ns leest settled on, 1161 u7 lip, language, 132 locusts, figures from, 20, 42-, 43 Lord Gon, n3

Maktesh, n6 Malcham, 112

Mcdes1 destruction of Nineveh by, 141

15, 53, Appendix Media, Scythian influence on, 15; see

Appendix mt:ek, meekness, as religious terms:1- 1or 1

x21, 133 Megiddo, 17, 54 meonenlm) i.e. augurs or soothsayers,

82 merchants, 11, 42, n6 Merodach Baladan, 7 I Midian, 88 Milcom, Molech, see Maleh.am Moab1 99, 102, 1241 125 Moab1te Stone, rn4 l\l.urdter-Delitzsch1 53 note musical directions m Hab. iii., 58, 8,+, 94

INDEX. 143

Nabonidus, 71, Appendix Nabopolassar, 15, 53, 7I, Appendix Nahum, meaning of name, 9; birth-

place, 91 tI, 12; events that may have been occasion of his prophecy., 15-18; integrity of prophecy, 18-20 ~ con­tents of prophecy, 20, 2~i peculiarities of, 21

Nature, Heh. conception of, 25: in­volved with man in God's judgments on him, no

N ebuchadn-ezzar, 71 Necho, 17 nettles, sign of desolation, 1:24 Nineveht description of its situation, 331

34; siege and capture of, u, 17, 181

20, 32; destructic,n of, 13-15, 27-301

35_,. 36; defence of, .41 ; riches of, 35; the enemy of mankind, .21.,. 44; threat­ened by Zeph., :ror, 126. See Ap• pendix

No Amon, or, Thebes, Nahum's know­ledge of, 11 ; description of, 40; riches of, 35 ~ capture of, 13, 41

noon day, at, meaning of the expression, 122 1 Appendix

oaks, means of augury, 82 oaths of the tribes, 88 oracle, 23

Palestine, 17, 98, I22

Paran, mountains of, 85 Philistines, "122, 123

Phraortes, 15, i:6 pledges, 78 praise, the earth filled with Jehovah's,

86; Israel a name and a prats.e, 136 priests, their character described, 129

princes, the1 1141 n5, 128

prophecy, voice of humanity in, 21 ; ecstasy in early, 65; prominence given to faith by prophets, 128~ 134

prophets, those of Jerusalem character• ized 1 129

proudly exulting ones, 133 proverb, a taunting, 78 Psammetichus, 98 Put, 40, 132.,. 133 -

qm:en of Nineveh, u, 34, 3S

rase, see lay bare rebuke of the sea, 24, 251 88 Red Sea, passage of, 83, 88, Sg, 91 remnant of Baal, 971 111; of Israel, 125,

134 Renan, quoted n7 rhythm (jinaki in Zeph. ,. ro2 •• righteous, .said of Israel m oppos1t1on to

the Chaldeans, 52, 73, 75 river- gates, n, 34

Roth.stein, quoted, 1zo rottenness, a figure for paralysis of

strength, 92

sacrifice, slaughter of animals equivalent to, 113; a figure for the destruction of Israel, 91, "1

salt, sowing with, symbol meaning to devote to deso1ation1 124,. 125

salvation1 prophecy of 1ts universality by Zcph., ,o6, 131 ff.

Sargon, n, 7I; dynasty of, 18 Sayce, quoted, 21, 37 Schrader, quoted, :141 21 1 41, 43 Schwally, 98, 100

~cribes, emendations of, 72 Scythians, r5, 54, 74, 98 Sennacherib, 1.r, 17, 19, 281 71; type of

Assyrian monarchy, 17 se"ttled on their' lees, n6,. n7 Shamas-sum-ukin, rebellion of, 151 37,

71.; fate of, 16 SheO]l sym~ol of insatiable rapacity, 77 shields, colour and variety of, 31 Skigi,motk, 84 Sin-shar•ishkun, last king of Assyria, 18 Smith, W. R., quoted, 14

sokek, n, 33 Stade, quoted, 100

stringed instruments, g-4 stumbling-blocks, 110

swear hy, to, u2

tablets, used for public notices~ 75 teacher of lies, i.e. the idol, 82 Teman, 85 Tennyson, quoted, ,+J theophany, in Nab., 23-26; in Hab.,

59-61, 83 ff. Thomas of Celano, author of Dies irae,

II9 thorns, a figure for enemiesJ 28 Tiele, quoted, 16, 21, 37 Tiglath Pileser, n, 7r~ 124

tifl~n so.Jlurim, see scribes tiJhsar, "II, 43 Tirhakah, 41 topography of Jerusalem, 95, II4 ff. toralt, 52, 66, 67, 128 Trench, Sacred Latin Poetry, 119

Tyre, 16

Ummanmanda, Appendix uncoVer, or, rase, 127 universal salvation, 1o6, -xog, 131 ff. Urdamani, 41

Virgil, quoted by Gesen., 5(}

watchman, prophet compared to, 74 WeHhausen, 14, 18, 43, 50, 67, 70, 77, Sr,

93, 99, 13° whoredom, metaphor for inter-course of

nationsJ 38

144 INDEX.

wicked, the term applied to Chaldeans and heath.en nations, 52, 73

Winckler, 91 18, 37, 41, 53, Appendix witchcrafts, the fascinating influences of

Assyrian statecraft, 39 wolves, evening, 6c], 128

work, God's, 84

Xenophon, Anab. and Cyrop., quoted, 31

yeais, midst of the, 84, 85

Zephaniah, 15 ; contrasted with Nahum, 21: meaning of name, 95; J erusa.lem his home, 95; his descent, 95 1 g6: date of prophecy, c,6-99; integrity of pro• phecy, 99-104; contents of prophecy, 104-1o6; errors and sins assailed by him, 114 ff. ; importance of his pro• phecy, 1o6; it;S profound moral feeling, 104; his view of history, 1.07; pre­diction of universal salvation,. 131 ff.: points of similarity to Jeremiah, 97, 104J and to Isaiah, 103

CAMBRIDGE: PRINTED BY}, & C. F. CLAY1 AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS.